Hawkeye men buoyed by youthful core
Comments (...)IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Perhaps the only thing more surprising than Iowa’s easy win over Indiana last weekend was how many youngsters helped pull off the upset.
Iowa pounded Indiana 78-66 on Sunday with a starting lineup featuring four underclassmen; freshmen Aaron White and Josh Oglesby and sophomores Zach McCabe and Devyn Marble. Even fellow sophomore Melsahn Basabe got into the act with 13 points, seven rebounds and five blocks off the bench.
Senior starter Matt Gatens was the star with a career-high 30 points and seven 3s. But the fact that the Hawkeyes were able to lean so heavily on their younger players is encouraging.
“It shows that the future’s really bright. We have a lot of young guys playing big minutes against big teams,” Gatens said. “It’s great for the program. Experience is something you can’t teach.”
Iowa (14-13,, 6-8 Big Ten) hosts No. 16 Wisconsin (20-7, 9-5) on Thursday night in search of its fourth win over a ranked opponent this season.
The Hawkeyes appear to finally have the youthful depth and talent needed to turn the corner. White, in particular, has been a pleasant surprise.
The 6-foot-8 forward from Strongsville, Ohio, didn’t arrive in Iowa City with any hype but it didn’t take long. White opened his college career with a double-double, scoring 19 points with 10 rebounds in just 18 minutes of a 96-53 win over Chicago State, and he has continued to show promise in only six starts.
White leads the Hawkeyes in rebounding with 5.6 per game despite a frame that could use another offseason in the weight room. He’s also scoring 10.4 points a game, and his scoring and rebounding have gone up since Big Ten play started.
Though White won’t overtake Michigan’s Trey Burke or Indiana’s Cody Zeller in the league’s freshman of the year race, he’s given every indication that the Hawkeyes can build a winner around him.
“I’m not surprised because of his basketball skills and his I.Q. He takes the information, he takes the experience and he uses it to his advantage,” coach Fran McCaffery said of White.
Oglesby, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard from nearby Cedar Rapids, is shooting a respectable 35.5 percent from 3-point range, has drawn praise from McCaffery for his defense and appears ready to slide into the starting lineup next season as Gatens and fellow senior Bryce Cartwright graduate.
“He’s not a mistake guy. That’s what you want. When you have freshmen that are scorers, a lot of times they’re mistake guys, and he’s not,” McCaffery said.
Marble is not necessarily a point guard, but he’s been able to hold down that spot as Cartwright suffered through a series of injuries that have affected his play. Marble is also adept at attacking the basket, nearly doubling his points per game (11.1) from a year ago.
McCabe remains inconsistent, but even he came out of nowhere to post back-to-back 20-point outings against Purdue and Nebraska last month.
“All year long we’ve talked about our youth and how effective they’ve been,” McCaffery said. “For the most part, they have been consistent. They’ve carried us, and (Gatens) has been a great example for those guys.”
It hasn’t all been positive for Iowa’s underclassmen. Basabe has struggled to match his breakout freshman year, in part because he packed on too much weight trying to adapt to playing power forward.
But after appearing to be a lost cause as recently as a month ago, Basabe has thrived in his new role coming off the bench.
“He was tiring, he was lumbering. So, once he trimmed down he’s been better,” McCaffery said.
Even though the Hawkeyes are clearly better than they’ve been the past few seasons, the only way they’ll reach the NCAA tournament is with a miraculous run through the Big Ten tourney.
But if their youngsters keep progressing at their current rate, Iowa could be thinking of the postseason as soon as next year.
The Hawkeyes will add to their current core with a five-player recruiting class considered its best in years. The newcomers are led by 7-footer Adam Woodbury, who turned down North Carolina among others to play for Iowa, and point guard Mike Gesell.
“Guys are making big impacts now at a young age, so it’s good to see,” White said.
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