Joe Wieskamp is only a freshman, but in the first half of Iowa’s 103-46 exhibition win over Guilford, he looked much more experienced.

Just as the Hawkeyes dominated in every aspect on the court, Wieskamp didn’t look phased by his first real action in front of a live crowd at Carver-Hawkeye. He looked like he belonged.

Wieskamp finished with a team-high 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting (2-of-3 from 3-point range) with 5 rebounds and 3 assists in 19 minutes of action.

“It was a lot of fun,” Wieskamp said. “It was pretty exciting to put on that uniform and run out of that tunnel for the first time and just going out there and having fun with my teammates.”

Wieskamp also showed potential on the defensive side of the ball. The freshman racked up 2 steals on the box score and also did things to get the opposing offense out of rhythm.

Wieskamp noted his length as something that helps him on the defensive end, but said he didn’t lock in as much and focus on defense as much in high school.

Now, he’s appearing to give Iowa a boost in an area it desperately needs help in.

“He’s a really good defensive player,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. “The guy led the state in scoring. Leading scorer in history, you’re not expecting him to be a lockdown defender, but he’s really good.”

Now, the next challenge is carrying his level of play over into the regular season. Guilford is not a college basketball powerhouse by any means at all and the game doesn’t count toward the schools’ records.

After Wieskamp’s performance on Sunday, there is little doubt about his ability to transition it over into the regular season.

When Iowa takes on Missouri-Kansas City on Thursday, however, it will be the real deal with stats that count and a game that matters.

But Wieskamp has been putting on a show for his teammates and coaches ever since he arrived in Iowa City, so it’s not like his performance shocked anyone in Iowa’s locker room.

The transition from high school ball to college is not easy, but Wieskamp made it look effortless after one game.

“Wasn’t surprised at all,” forward Tyler Cook said. “Joe’s doing great, performing well in practice. He doesn’t do too much, he makes shots… The more experienced he gets, the better he will be.”

Not everything was perfect, though. Wieskamp also had 4 turnovers in the win, which could be attributed to his inexperience. After all, he hasn’t played a regular season game in the Black and Gold.

With it being Iowa’s first game of the year as well, mistakes are going to be made, no matter who the opponent is.

The Hawkeyes won’t be playing Guilford all season long, so it’s key for them to recognize mistakes and get them fixed for the regular season and conference schedule. Wieskamp knows that there is work to be done.

“Obviously there’s a lot of improvements we can make,” Wieskamp said. “We had a lot of turnovers. Looking forward, we’re going to be playing a lot stronger teams and we know that, so we’ve got to clean some things up.”