Iowa men’s basketball team could get a lot of assist-ance from its point guards

IOWA CITY — Since 2016, seven former Iowa men’s basketball players have played in the NBA.

None were point guards.

In 2021, No. 7-seed Oregon beat No. 2 Iowa in the second round of the NCAA tournament, 95-80. The Ducks’ guards killed the Hawkeyes’ lofty postseason hopes. Guards Chris Duarte and Will Richardson had seven assists apiece and Duarte — now with the Chicago Bulls — scored 23 points.

In 2022, No 12-seed Richmond upset No. 5 Iowa, 67-63. Jacob Gilyard — now with the Brooklyn Nets — had 24 points and six assists for the Spiders.

You can get a long way on across-the-lineup talent, but you’re going to live and die with point guard play at some point.

Maybe the Hawkeyes will have enough of it in 2024-25. Brock Harding got plenty of experience as a freshman last season and will certainly have the reins a lot as a sophomore.

Then there’s newcomer Drew Thelwell. Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery hasn’t worked the NCAA transfer portal too hard since it opened for business, and he hasn’t grabbed point guards out of it. Until now.

Thelwell fits McCaffery’s idea of an ideal portal pull. Thelwell is experienced, clearly a team guy, and not a program-hopper. He was at Morehead State of the Ohio Valley Conference for four years, and only left after his head coach the whole time there, Preston Spradlin, left in late March to coach James Madison.

No Morehead State player experienced more winning in his career. Thelwell was part of a program that went 94-40 over the last four years. The Eagles went 26-9 last year and won the OVC tourney.

Thelwell averaged 34.4 minutes, 10 points and 6.2 assists. The latter ranked 18th in the nation. That’s a nice number.

“I’ve done four years of college basketball already,” Thelwell said Monday before practice, saying he brings “poise and experience to the team. You know, I can make open shots. I can find the right guy when he’s open.”

Asked to describe himself as a player, he said “I would say a pass-first point guard. I like to get others involved and then play defense. You don’t hear many guys talking about defense much anymore. But I pride myself on defense. I was at a school that prided themselves on defense for the last four years.”

Harding averaged 2.6 assists and 10.7 minutes off the bench. His potential, a year after he was Illinois’ high school “Mr. Basketball” at Moline High, was clear to see. He had seven assists in each of his first two college games, and 12 in a December game against Maryland Baltimore County.

He had 12 points and four assists in just 16 minutes in Iowa’s season-finale, a 91-82 NIT second-round loss at Utah.

However, Harding was kind of an untamed horse, with passes ranging from the sensational to the telegraphed. His two-man game with Moline classmate Owen Freeman was fabulous at times, But at 6-foot and 162 pounds, he sometimes didn’t appear strong enough to fend off top-rate Big Ten guards.

“I didn’t feel it, really,” Harding said, “but then watching the games back, you could kind of see I’d try to go straight downhill and get bumped off my line and then I’d have to throw a crazy pass instead of just being able to make an easy one. So that’s been a big thing that we’ve focused on.”

Harding said he has put on 8 pounds since the end of last season. (Freeman, by the way, has added 20 to get to 242 on his 6-foot-10 frame.)

“I want to get a couple more because I know I’ll lose some when the season starts,” Harding said. “So I’m just trying to get to a stable place in my body.”

It’s July, and the Big Ten football media days are fast approaching. But Iowa made basketball players available Monday, and that’s why you have this.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com