Iowa hoops: Making the Grade, Week 3

There's a lot to unpack from the last week or so of basketball for the Iowa men's basketball team. There was some good, but plenty of bad — both on and off the court. The Hawkeyes' roller coaster continued to roll right along, but this week was more click-click-click-up-the-hill than it was exciting-fast-paced-ride. Three losses in a row came in some similar ways.

Each week of the season, we'll break down the Hawkeyes' offensive and defensive performance and give them grades, as we'll as highlight each player who contributed significantly and his individual performance. This week's Iowa Hoops: Making the Grade highlights Games 5, 6 and 7 against No. 6 Virginia and Memphis at the Emerald Coast Classic, as well as on the road at Notre Dame.

Schedule/Results

Iowa vs No. 6 Virginia; L, 74-41

Iowa vs Memphis; L, 100-92

Iowa at Notre Dame; L, 92-78

Offense

C+Why: Three games offensively went a little like this: bad, good, good — but not for long enough.

The Hawkeyes want to be a fast-paced, high-energy offense. They want to move the ball up the floor with pace and work the ball with actions and passing to find their shooters, as well as easy looks inside. But against the suffocating pack-line defense of No. 6 Virginia, there was almost none of that. Iowa couldn't find shots, didn't run with effectiveness and largely was exposed by a much more experienced team.

The Memphis and Notre Dame games had a much different feel — thankfully, that is, for Coach Fran McCaffery and Co. This would be the part of the program where we mention some guy named Peter Jok doing Peter Jok things, but he was on a different level against Memphis. His success, though, was more about him creating his own shot than it was Iowa running tons of sets or actions to get him open.

The good things the Hawkeyes did against Notre Dame, though, were much more indicative of a wider offensive effort — aided by the fact that Jok wasn't hitting. Iowa's sets in half-court took longer to develop against Notre Dame, with motion being used with effectiveness to get Cordell Pemsl several easy buckets. Maybe the best part, offensively, in that game was the assist-to-turnover ratio. With 22 assists to a season-low six turnovers, there was clear, much-needed improvement. That the assists were on 27 field goals made the night an efficient one.

But what became clear over the course of the week — specifically in the final 10 minutes at Notre Dame — was if the shots stop falling, Iowa's chances of winning plummet. There's just not enough on the other end to keep games within reach when that isn't happening. Which brings us to …

Defense

DWhy: Let's start with the good on defense — because there was some good, despite 88.7 points per game and 1.285 points per possession in the three losses.

There was improvement against Notre Dame. It was there, and it was real. Iowa came out from the start and was active all over the place. Corner traps were effective thanks to good weakside rotations and recoveries. Early on, there was rim protection, and Notre Dame was made stagnant on offense. But that kind of active defense takes experience to sustain. It takes way more games than the majority of Hawkeyes have under their belts to perfect. The Hawkeyes defended high ball screen, pick-and-roll well early, but that broke down in the final 10 minutes. The trap only half-worked down the stretch, with backside help faltering on more than one occasion; leading to easy baskets.

What broke down when Iowa was worn down is what hurt them so bad against Virginia and particularly Memphis. Perimeter defense was porous in those two games. Post defense wasn't any better. Iowa allowed 110 total points in the paint — punctuated by 54 to Memphis — and 47 points off 42 total turnovers in the three losses. The Hawkeyes' opponents shot 50.8 percent, thanks to too-often easy shots.

The good news: the Hawkeyes are capable of playing good defense, as they showed for stretches against Notre Dame. The bad news: it appears they're not yet capable of sustaining said defense for 40 minutes.

Players (in last three games)

* To view more data, click here.

Peter Jok, guard — He took the blame for the Notre Dame loss, after going 4 of 20 from the field. It's hard to deny Jok's cold shooting night made it harder on Iowa, but it seems a little ridiculous to blame one person. I think it's a fair prediction to say we won't see him shoot that poorly again this year. His 42 points against Memphis was a special performance, and if he can even reasonably repeat it, he'll make a case for Big Ten and National Player of the Year.

Tyler Cook, forward — Brutal break (sorry, bad pun) for the Hawkeyes with the freshman going down with a broken finger. But holy crap, he played two games and averaged 13.7 points and 5.3 rebounds playing with a broken index finger on his shooting hand. He's out three weeks, will miss the Iowa State and UNI games, but will be healthy for Big Ten play.

Jordan Bohannon, guard — In his first career start, Bohannon rose to the occasion. The Linn-Mar grad continued the Bohannon shooting lineage, pouring in seven 3s at a 46.7 percent clip. He's a player who looks to score, sure, but also found his teammates well in that first start. Seven assists to just one turnover is a stark improvement, and is validation of his promotion.

Cordell Pemsl, forward — Speaking of rising to the occasion, here's the other guy who got his first start and answered the call. He's going to have a big responsibility with Cook out, and in more extended run on Tuesday, he showed he's got the chops. His minutes were back up this week, and in the first two games he rebounded pretty well. His post defense was much better against Notre Dame, but, like all the posts, still has plenty of room to grow.

Dom Uhl, forward — Something about Uhl just seems off. He doesn't look all that comfortable on either end of the floor. His aggressiveness wasn't really there, especially offensively. Defensively, he was a spark off the bench initially against Notre Dame, but like the collective, faded by the end.

Nicholas Baer, guard — Good: Baer had six offensive rebounds against Notre Dame. Bad: at least three of those offensive rebounds came because he missed point-blank put-backs and they padded the stat, in a way. The latter obviously is not something that one should expect to be a regular occurrence. Baer was the best defender individually over the course of the week.

Brady Ellingson, guard — Ellingson took just five shots over the course of the three games, while playing approximately 14 minutes per game over the course of the week. He hasn't gotten open as often as he did in a few of the opening games, but has largely made the most of those chances he has gotten. His defense this week, though, was more of the same as before.

Isaiah Moss, guard — Moss got his first start against Notre Dame, as well. He's an aggressive player on offense, joining Jok and Bohannon as a guard trio that actively search for shots and fueled the offense. He hadn't found his teammates much before Tuesday, but with five assists showed he has the ability to be a good passer.

Ahmad Wagner, forward — We didn't see a ton of him — only six minutes against Notre Dame — and he wasn't nearly as active this week as he was expected to be coming into the season. His defense was supposed to be a strength, but he never found his footing over a rough week.

Christian Williams, guard — Iowa is going to need to outscore opponents to win — at least for the time being — and his lack of offensive output and aggressiveness in finding a shot would be a reasonable explanation for why he lost his starting job. His defense — like Wagner, supposed to be a strength — wasn't against Memphis or Virginia, either.

Upcoming Games

Iowa vs. Omaha, 1 p.m., Dec. 3 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena

Iowa vs. Stetson, 6 p.m., Dec. 5 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena

Iowa vs. Iowa State, 7 p.m., Dec. 8 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena

Previous weeks: Games 1-2, Games 3-4

*Full disclosure on grades: First things first, that's by subjective view after covering and re-watching games. Second, grades are an aggregate of the week, based on an 11-point scale. A is worth 11, A- 10, and so on through F, which is 0. Offense and defense are given a grade for each game and then averaged for the week.

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com