3 Takeaways: Iowa's bench minutes soar, huge year for Iowa sports, previous D-II exhibition losses

IOWA CITY — It took some time for Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery to trust his bench players in key moments, especially when junior-college transfer Dale Jones suffered a season-ending knee injury.

In an overtime win against Florida State, Iowa reserves scored just eight points and totaled only 43 minutes of action. A week later at Iowa State, the Hawkeyes bench played 28 minutes, scored only four points and freshman forward Ahmad Wagner didn't even play.

McCaffery calls not turning to his bench in early-season action 'a mistake for me and for them.' His reserves had to learn the game at the double-quick. It took time, something McCaffery wasn't sure he had at that moment.

'I didn't know where our bench was. We weren't ready,' McCaffery said. 'It would have been a hard fight with five guys, six, maybe. Dom (Uhl) was fine, but the other guys were not ready. ... A lot of freshmen have time. They didn't have any time.

'Right off the bat we were playing the No. 1 Division II team in the country. And then we played a good Gardner-Webb team, we're down in Orlando and playing top 20 teams, Dayton, Notre Dame and Wichita State, and come back and play Florida State, Marquette on the road. There was no time for those guys to kind of kick it off their foot and miss a shot and kind of play through their mistakes. They didn't have that luxury.'

But McCaffery eventually had to relent. Against Drake in Des Moines, red-shirt freshman Nicholas Baer registered 13 points, seven rebounds and six blocked shots in 30 minutes to earn Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors. In a key sequence against Michigan on Jan. 17, Baer, Uhl and Wagner played nearly six consecutive minutes together and vaulted a tie game into an 11-point advantage. They joined guards Peter Jok and Mike Gesell (who was replaced by Anthony Clemmons) to score on five consecutive possessions and hold Michigan to a single 3-pointer.

In Big Ten play, Iowa's bench players average 56 minutes of game action. Their lowest point output was nine at Rutgers and they average 17 a game. Iowa (18-4, 9-1 Big Ten), which is ranked fifth by the Associated Press, received similar production Wednesday in a 73-49 win against Penn State. Reserves totaled 78 minutes and scored 28 points.

Wagner provided the game's highlight play with a baseline dunk and ensuing free throw to put Iowa ahead 17-7 with 11:44 left in the first half.

'We spread them out,' Wagner said. 'We put five on the outside, and we knew that we could beat them off the dribble. When I had them on the lane, (Jordan Dickerson) came in closing in with his high foot up. I took him off the dribble, and I had a whole lane. I took it down and dunked it.'

Wagner, Baer and Uhl all scored eight points and played between 18 and 20 minutes apiece against Penn State. They often provide instant energy when they enter the game.

'What I try to do is stay engaged in the game with my mind and always being ready to go,' Baer said. 'What do I need to do on the court when I come in, what's the time, what's the score and how can I impact the game ...?'

'You've got to be able to go to your bench,' McCaffery said. 'You've got to be able to rest your guys. You've got to be able to get productivity off the bench. We are getting points, rebounds, assists, and not a lot of mistakes. So whether we're home or away, we need that.'

It's an important step for the program, which has come a long way from distrust to harmony between McCaffery, his starters and his bench players.

'At the beginning of the year, we were struggling a little bit,' Wagner said. 'It was difficult to get the young guys and the older guys to click. I don't know exactly when it was, but we've been putting it all together, and we've been playing really well.'

2. Department on a high. In Iowa's rich athletic history, there's never been a sports year like this one.

The football program finished the regular season 12-0 and competed in the Rose Bowl for the first time in 25 years. The men's basketball program has been ranked in the top five in each of the last two weeks. The only calendar year — not single sports year — that matches or potentially exceeds this one is 1956. That year the Hawkeyes men's basketball team won the Big Ten title and advanced to the NCAA title game and the football program won the Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl.

'I'm so proud of the entire program, football, men's basketball, January 2015, the momentum there going forward,' Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta said. 'Fran's team last year, Lisa's (Bluder) teams last year, wrestling, baseball and, of course, football. You can feel it building through the whole department. Women's gymnastics, they beat Maryland the other day. They beat Ohio State. So you can feel it through the whole program.'

In 2015, the men's basketball program won an NCAA tournament game for the first time in 14 years, and the women's basketball program advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in 19 years. The wrestling program finished second at the NCAA tournament, and Iowa's baseball program won 41 games and earned its first postseason win in 43 years.

3. Exhibition memories. Nearly every day I hear from an Iowa fan who touts the progress this basketball team has made from a last-second 76-74 exhibition loss to Division II Augustana (S.D.) to a top-five national program. It's true, the progress is palpable, especially the almost seamless transition between the starters and reserves. But it's not unprecedented for a top program to lose an exhibition to a lower-division school and then have a great season.

On Nov. 4, 2009, Division II Le Moyne beat No. 25 Syracuse 82-79 after sinking a 3-pointer with 8.3 seconds left. Syracuse rallied quite nicely to finish 30-5 overall, advance to the Sweet Sixteen and claim the old Big East by two games with a 15-3 record. Le Moyne ended its season 18-10.

On Nov. 8, 2007, Michigan State dropped an 85-82 double-overtime exhibition to Grand Valley State. The Spartans ended the year 27-9 and won two NCAA tournament games. Grand Valley State qualified for the Division II quarterfinals and finished its season 36-1.

This year Iowa (18-4, 9-1 Big Ten) is ranked No. 5 by the Associated Press. Augustana (S.D.) is 20-1 overall and ranked No. 1 in Division II.

From covering Division II for six years (2001-06), there's little difference between the nation's top D-II teams and good mid-major programs. Iowa playing Augustana or Michigan State facing Grand Valley State isn't much different from the Hawkeyes playing Northern Iowa or the Spartans competing against Oakland. When those lower-division teams combine talent with experience, they are dangerous. And the losses aren't necessarily a negative, either.

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