Hawkeyes shot down by own shooting, so far

The Iowa men's basketball team shot 46.3 percent from the field last season, which was pretty good.

It was 65th-best in the nation, in fact, which put it in the upper 20 percent of all teams in the nation.

Oh, how good 46.3 percent would look right now.

Three key players are gone from that team, Melsahn Basabe, Devyn Marble and Josh McCabe. Basabe shot 56.1 percent. McCabe was 39.0 percent. McCabe was fourth on the team in field goal attempts, Basabe sixth.

Marble shot 42.0 percent, and had 436 attempts, almost 200 more than anyone else on the team. So it isn't as if the Hawkeyes lost their shooting mojo when Marble went to the NBA. They lost some other critical things that haven't been replaced, of course, but field goal percentage wasn't among them.

Unless, of course, you would suggest Marble's presence led to better shots for his teammates.

Going into Monday night's home game against North Florida, this season's Iowa squad was shooting an icy 40.9 percent. That ranks 13th in the Big Ten, 277th nationally, and 64th of all 65 Power Five conference teams. Only the Big Ten's Rutgers was worse, at a dismal 38.4 percent.

Here's the rub for Iowa: Only four of its 12 games have been against Power Five competition. Of course, the 8-4 Hawkeyes' most-recent game was against Northern Iowa, which is no day at the beach for anyone and certainly wasn't for Iowa. The Hawkeyes shot a miserable 27.4 percent in their 56-44 loss to the Panthers Saturday in Des Moines.

Here's the returning Hawkeye players' field goal shooting of last season to this one up to the North Florida game, in order of the most attempts:

Jarrod Uthoff (117 field goal attempts)

This season: 41.0 percent, 9.8 FGA per game

Last season: 50.0 percent, 5.1 FGA

Aaron White (100 field goal attempts)

This season: 53.0 percent, 8.3 FGA per game

Last season: 58.4 percent, 7.4 FGA

Mike Gesell (80 field goal attempts)

This season: 33.8 percent, 6.7 FGA per game

Last season: 37.5 percent, 7.3 FGA

Adam Woodbury (79 field goal attempts)

This season: 48.1 percent, 6.6 FGA

Last season: 51.5 percent, 4.1 FGA

Peter Jok (66 field goal attempts)

This season: 31.8 percent, 5.5 FGA

Last season: 40.0 percent, 3.5 FGA

Gabe Olaseni (65 field goal attempts)

This season: 58.5 percent, 5.4 FGA

Last season: 50.0 percent, 4.2 FGA

Josh Oglesby (64 field goal attempts)

This season: 21.9 percent, 5.3 FGA

Last season: 43.6 percent, 5.2 FGA

Anthony Clemmons (56 field goal attempts)

This season: 35.7 percent, 4.7 FGA

Last season: 52.2 percent, 1.5 FGA

There is a positive note. Iowa has made 75.7 percent of its free throws, which ranks second in the Big Ten. Since the Hawkeyes have shot 20.6 free throws per game, that's no small thing.

And, there are two sides to the game. Iowa's field goal defense is first in the conference and 12th nationally at 36.2 percent. If you can't shoot, it helps to stop the other team from doing it, too.

The trouble was, the Hawkeyes got badly outshot by Iowa State (53.1 percent to 39.4) and UNI (45.5 to 27.4). Iowa won't play a lot of Longwoods and Maryland-Baltimore Countys once Big Ten play starts next Tuesday.