Cordell Pemsl announces arrival with big game for Iowa

IOWA CITY — Tyler Cook got an understandably large amount of preseason attention. Coach Fran McCaffery's assertion he has the highest ceiling of any Hawkeye he's recruited only served to bolster that. But maybe Cordell Pemsl should've gotten a bigger piece of that preseason hype pie.

The Dubuque Wahlert grad once was a top 100 recruit, and when he committed two years ago, sure looked like a future star. A leg injury his junior year and missed time subsequently softened that attention a bit, and by the time he got to Iowa, all eyes were on the freshman from St. Louis.

Pemsl had a solid opener against Kennesaw State on Friday, but took his turn announcing his arrival as a Hawkeye to be reckoned with on Sunday. The Hawkeyes beat Savannah State, 116-84, and Pemsl finished with 18 points and nine rebounds.

McCaffery said Sunday he understands why Pemsl might've been overlooked a bit. But he also knows that's not happening anymore.

'People forgot about him, I think. It's understandable. He committed a very long time ago,' McCaffery said. 'But watching him in AAU, watching him grow up, he has a feel for how to play the game. And there's just no substitute for that.

'You have a guy that can dribble, pass and shoot, and he's big, strong, smart, and tough. That's a terrific combination. So I kind of understand how it all went down but he's always been a really good player.'

Pemsl has Cook — who wasn't too shabby either Sunday, with 14 points and four rebounds — as a roommate, so it's not like the attention Cook got preseason caused any kind of rift between the two. Far from it, in fact. Pemsl reiterated what he said at media day by pointing out Sunday that the two bonded quickly when everyone arrived on campus in June, and it's only gotten stronger since.

When asked if everyone missed the boat on him, Pemsl couldn't help but smile.

He towed the line, though. He wasn't going to feed into any 'nobody believed in me' narrative. The 6-foot-8 forward settled on the 'I let my game do the talking' narrative instead.

That's not a bad case to make, all things considered.

'The media, social media and hype and stuff like that, that's all fun, but at the end of the day, if you're producing and you're winning games, that's all that matters,' Pemsl said. 'I'm just doing what I have to do to contribute, and the rest of the team is doing that as well. We're winning games and that's all that matters.'

Still, Sunday was immensely satisfying for a young man who's been through a lot health-wise.

Pemsl went through two significant leg injuries while he was in high school. He missed a large portion of his junior season due to surgery, then again had surgery before his senior year. It was the surgery in which doctors intentionally rebroke his femur and inserted metal into his knee that had him unsure about his future.

All the injury recovery and uncertainty came after he committed to Iowa. He dipped in the recruiting rankings during that time, and the attention faded away a bit.

But back he came, and into a major place in Iowa's rotation.

'It's awesome because going into the surgery I had, you don't know if you're ever going to be 100 percent again,' Pemsl said. 'Not a lot of people intentionally break their femur and then have metal in their knee for the rest of their life.

'And now we're here playing games and going live and I feel the best I have been. So it's satisfying knowing I went through everything and it's still paying off now.'

Through his first two games, Pemsl is averaging 14 points and 7.5 rebounds, and is shooting 78.6 percent (11 of 14 total) from the floor. Yeah, that would qualify as surgery and recovery paying off.

Pemsl is just one part of a freshman class with loads of potential. It's not like he's going to dominate the Hawkeye faithful's attention every night, but the fact that he has the ability to is why McCaffery stuck with him when he was dealing with those injuries.

McCaffery couldn't have had more complimentary things to say about what Pemsl does after the Hawkeyes' dominant win Sunday. Maybe everyone did miss the boat a bit on Pemsl before the season. But no one is missing it now.

'He understands angles. He has a great ability to make a decision in traffic — when to get rid of it, dump it, shoot it, don't shoot it. He's terrific against pressure,' McCaffery said. 'I've been watching him since he was in eighth grade. He's always been like that. There's no panic in his game at all. Nothing rattles him. Makes a mistake, comes right back, and doesn't let it linger on him.

'And that's a special talent to have, especially when you're a young player.'

Iowa was led in scoring Sunday by Brady Ellingson, who had a career-high 23 points on 7 of 9 shooting (4 of 6 from 3-point range). Peter Jok added 13 points and six rebounds. All 13 Hawkeyes who played got in the scoring column as well.

Next up for the Hawkeyes is Seton Hall on Thursday as part of the Gavitt Games. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. on BTN.

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