By Blake Dowson
Iowa’s performance against Ohio State on Jan. 28 was about as balanced as a team can be.
Four guys scored between 12 and 17 points; four more scored 6 points. All 10 guys who played registered more than 10 minutes; none played more than 29. Iowa shot 50 percent in the first half and 50 percent again in the second. The Hawkeyes scored 40 points in the first, 45 in the second.
“A lot of guys are producing, and they’re giving us energy and effort, and they’re executing,” head coach Fran McCaffery said after his team’s win over Ohio State. “I think you saw a team tonight that didn’t make a ton of mistakes. I really only got upset one time, and that was when we fouled 80 feet from the basket. And that’s a harm because they’re just battling.”
It was one of the first full 40-minute games McCaffery has gotten this year, which was step one for his young group. Now with that under their belt, the challenge multiplies — can the Hawkeyes put together another full 40 minutes on the road at Rutgers and earn their first true road win of the year?
If it is to happen, it’ll likely be without Peter Jok again; McCaffery said Monday his star scorer isn’t likely to play against the Scarlet Knights due to the same back problems that kept him out of the game against the Buckeyes.
“I really honestly think we have to go day by day with it,” McCaffery said. “I think the plan is it will go for a little while, but it’s really going to be a function of how much progress he makes.”
Life without Jok turned out to be much brighter than expected against Ohio State. Freshman Tyler Cook, who scored 13 points in Jok’s absence, said watching film of that game will be critical moving forward without the team’s leading scorer.
“When you watch a game, you see the bad stuff you do,” he said. “What we need to do is see the good stuff we did [against Ohio State] and go over that again and watch that and see what works, what gets us going, and try to keep building on that in the future.”
The overarching theme of the win over Ohio State was aggression — Jok texted his teammates before the game to remind them to be aggressive, and McCaffery said afterward that was the reason the Hawkeyes won the game.
With Jok out, there are 16 extra shots up for grabs that need to be taken. On Jan. 28, Brady Ellingson took advantage. Tonight, any of Isaiah Moss, Jordan Bohannon, Cordell Pemsl, Cook, or someone else could shoulder the load. But aggression, not hesitancy, is the winning formula.
“Coach lets us play through our struggles,” Ellingson said. “…I just knew I had to be a little more aggressive with Pete out.”
The Hawkeyes should ride a wave of confidence into the RAC tonight in Piscataway against the Scarlet Knights, considering the damage they did against Ohio State.
The offense was clicking in a way it hadn’t all season, getting contributions from all 10 guys who saw minutes. To do that without the services of Jok should do wonders for a group of freshmen and sophomores.
“I think it’s sort of immeasurable [to win without Jok],” McCaffery said. “You look at even Isaiah Moss, gets two quick [fouls], so Brady is outstanding. Well, he was great in the second half, Isaiah was. And what you’re seeing…was just a lot more aggressiveness from other people, and that’s what I want them to be. I want them to be aggressive.”
