Iowa's focus: Stop Illinois' Demetri McCamey

IOWA CITY – Welcome to the Big Ten, Fran McCaffery.

Iowa's first-year men's basketball coach was slapped with a clear early-season disadvantage when it came to league scheduling. McCaffery's Hawkeyes face five ranked teams in their first six games, and the other is against a team receiving votes.

Yes, the Hawkeyes (7-5) open Big Ten play at home Wednesday against No. 23 Illinois (10-3) and then follows with another home game, albeit with No. 2-ranked Ohio State. But location aside, it's a daunting league start for McCaffery in what many consider the nation's best men's basketball league.

“I think everybody knew coming into the season what the league schedule was going to be like,” McCaffery said. “You look at how many teams were going to be ranked in the preseason and for the most part it stayed true to form.”

The immediate task is the Fighting Illini, which has lost their last two games. Illinois has beaten Iowa four straight and six of the last seven, including the last two at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa holds a 52-19 advantage against Illinois in Iowa City.

Iowa's focus primarily sets on Illinois senior point guard Demetri McCamey, an all-Big Ten selection last year. McCamey, who stands 6-foot-3, is equally balanced between scoring and setting up his teammates. McCamey averages 15.7 points and 7.1 assists a game. He also hits nearly half his shots.

“He's as dangerous of a guy that I've ever had to prepare for,” McCaffery said. “The thing that I like about him is as talented as he is, he gives it up easy to his teammates. He makes and takes big shots but he shoots when he's open. He drives the ball when there's space, and he just plays the game the right way. He's a guy that at the end of the game is going to have great numbers but he's going to make his teammates better.”

McCamey averaged 11.6 points a game last year and was tabbed first-team all-Big Ten by both coaches and media. He averaged a league-high 7.1 assists, which was second in the nation. He's the first player in Illinois history to score 1,200 points and 500 assists in his first three seasons.

It's likely Iowa will throw multiple defensive looks at McCamey.

“With a guy like him out there, you can't stop just one thing,” McCaffery said. “I don't know if there's any one person that can actually guard him in college basketball. You've got to work and stay after him. You've got to pay attention to him on ball screens. You've got to get back in transition if you want to mark him in a zone.

“You've got to know where he is because he's not only capable of making 3s, he's capable of making shots in his in-between game when driving the ball and creating for others. They've got a number of other guys who can make shots. So obviously he's a guy that's going to have our full attention.”