By Adam Hensley
The point-guard position poses an interesting problem for Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery.
Do the Hawkeyes stick with Christian Williams, a 6-4 athletic facilitator or sacrifice height for shooting in 6-0 Jordan Bohannon?
For the time being, McCaffery is still working things out but said he’s impressed with where his duo is at now.
“I think those two guys give me great confidence moving forward,” he said.
Both players recorded extremely similar minute totals on Nov. 4 in Iowa’s exhibition win against Regis — Williams with 23, Bohannon 20.
Williams got the starting nod from McCaffery. The sophomore from Decatur, Illinois, scored 11 points and recorded 5 assists. More importantly, he did not turn the ball over.
His athletic ability was put on full display as well; numerous times Williams’ tall frame came in handy, as he took the ball coast to coast, finishing in the paint with a lay-up.
Bohannon filled a sixth-man role for Iowa, playing the most minutes of any player to come off the bench.
The freshman battled with an inconsistent shooting night (1-of-5 from 3-point range) yet managed to receive high praise from McCaffery.
Bohannon scored 8 points, threw 3 assists, and also snagged 1 steal.
“I thought Christian was really good, and I thought Jordan did a lot of really good things as well,” McCaffery said. “I thought Jordan picked us up when he came in the first time and scored 7 quick points. I thought Christian in the second half was spectacular.”
Bohannon made two free-throws and drilled a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions, then recorded his steal and scored on a lay-up seconds later. Before his spark, Iowa and Regis were tied at 19 apiece. From there, the Hawkeyes outscored the Rangers by 20 until the halftime buzzer.
Looking closer at the two, it’s all about determining the strengths of various lineups.
At times, the two played side-by-side, and it was a rotation that seemed to suit both ball-handlers’ abilities.
“We’ve been switching in together these past couple of weeks,” Bohannon said. “Our games our totally different, so we kind of complement each other.”
It also gives the Hawkeyes an edge in quickness and an advantage in transition, according to Williams.
“We got a chance for him to come in at the 1 and me at the 2, then he just kind of got to look at me getting out in transition — he found me — and that’s what we’ve been working on,” he said.
When it comes to the experience between the two, Williams has the edge — he’s the only one of the two who has played in a regular-season college basketball game.
Williams appeared in 20 games in the 2015-16 season, but always came off the bench behind former starter Mike Gesell, tallying 102 minutes of play — to put that into perspective, Williams played 23 minutes against Regis, more than one-fifth of his minutes last season.
He only averaged five minutes of playing time during his five conference game appearances, scoring 1.9 points per game.
While Williams competed for playing time in his first season as a Hawkeye, Bohannon caught fire on the court in his senior season for Linn-Mar High.
Bohannon scored 25.8 points a game and despite his small stature, collected 5.2 rebounds as well. His point totals led Iowa’s Class 4A.
He finished his Lion career as the school’s record holder for the most 3-pointers made in a career and the highest free-throw percentage.
Iowa will host Kennesaw State on Friday in its regular-season opener. Since practice began for the Hawkeyes, Williams and Bohannon have pushed each other to be ready for this moment.
“Most definitely,” Williams said. “We’ve been defending each other pretty well, just trying to get each other better.”