McCaffery happy with lineup change as Iowa welcomes Omaha

IOWA CITY — In the days before the Iowa men's basketball team went on the road to Notre Dame, Coach Fran McCaffery said he was contemplating a change to the starting five.

He was forced into one change, thanks to surgery on a broken finger for forward Tyler Cook, but he went two steps further in the form of Jordan Bohannon and Isaiah Moss also being inserted into the starting lineup.

Bohannon, Moss and Cordell Pemsl each got their first starts, joining Peter Jok and Nicholas Baer. Two true freshmen and one redshirt freshman stepped in and gave McCaffery what he was looking for in many ways.

They took the loss in South Bend, yes, but changing up the lineup was something that was about more than just one game.

'Really happy with that group. I thought it was a big step for Isaiah. Cordell obviously handled it really well. I wasn't surprised with Jordan. Jordan, he had been playing really well in my view,' McCaffery said Friday. 'But the thing that he took great pride in was that (Bohannon) wasn't going to allow our team to turn the ball over like we had been. Not that that was Christian's (Williams) fault by any means. That was a collective effort. We turned it over 18 times, and that's a lot of different people. But I think he settled everybody down, and we only had one turnover in the second half, so that gives you a chance to win.'

Bohannon had 23 points, seven assists and just one turnover. Pemsl had 18 points, three assists and just one turnover. Moss had five points, five assists and no turnovers.

While Iowa ultimately lost the game because it went cold shooting while also being 'gassed' and reverting back what it had struggled with defensively, the efficiency with which the offense played was the impetus for the change from McCaffery.

Before the Notre Dame game, Iowa's team assist-to-turnover ratio was 1.1-to-1 (112 assists to 101 turnovers total). On Tuesday, the Hawkeyes had 22 assists to six turnovers, and the assists came on 27 field goals.

Yes, opponent, style and how McCaffery deployed his rotation all factor into those numbers. But McCaffery wasn't afraid to change it up in attempt to achieve that much-needed change because of who he was moving around and how.

Cook will be back in the starting lineup when he returns from injury, which McCaffery said Tuesday isn't yet exactly set. McCaffery said 'I'll just bring him back when the doctors say,' and that Cook will be ready when that happens.

Williams and Dom Uhl, the other two removed as starters, handled it as McCaffery expected them to as the people he's come to know. Their effort and commitment to the team's goals didn't change a bit, McCaffery said.

'They reacted extremely well as I expected they would. I addressed it collectively. I said, 'We haven't been playing as well as I think we're capable of playing. We're going to shake things up,'' McCaffery said. ''And those of you that are coming out of the starting lineup are going to play. Be ready to play. Be ready to come in and produce,' and I thought they did. I wasn't disappointed with either of their energy levels or their attention to detail, their understanding of scouting report, and I thought they really tried to come in and pick us up.'

The starting lineup McCaffery put out at Notre Dame will be in place again Saturday as the Hawkeyes welcome Omaha to Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

McCaffery said this version of the Mavericks reminds him of the one that came to Iowa City two years ago and pushed the Hawkeyes. With Tra-Deon Hollins, who leads the nation in steals per game with four and three others who average in double figures, Iowa doesn't see Omaha as any kind of pushover.

With the starters he wants, now, McCaffery said, he has to find the right flow to his rotation and how he uses the players he needs.

'We did not play really good defense for 40 minutes, and that's what's going to have to happen. Our ball screen defense was really good, really good, and then all of a sudden it wasn't so good,' McCaffery said. 'And again, you know, it was — when you watch the film, there was a little bit of fatigue.

'I keep going back to (Jok and Baer) because I trust them and I have them in there a lot. I have to be careful and get them a little bit of rest so that they are fresh for the stretch run.'

Iowa and Omaha tip off at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The game can be seen on BTN Plus.

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