Uthoff, White shine for Hawkeyes

IOWA CITY — Iowa men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery preached playing with aggression and energy leading into the season opener.

He got both from two of his floor leaders.

Jarrod Uthoff got Iowa going offensively with a pair of 3-pointers in the opening minutes, and Aaron White led all scorers with 19 points as No. 25 Iowa routed Hampton, 90-56, in a regional game of the 2K Classic last night before 14,682 fans at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

'He's been playing great,' McCaffery said of Uthoff. 'I have supreme confidence in him. He's got confidence in himself. I thought he played sort of a mistake-free game. He shot it when he was open, moved it on when he was covered. Really impressive, I thought.'

Uthoff finished with 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the 3-point line. The versatile White's complete game was on full display with seven rebounds, six assists, two steals and a blocked shot.

'I know if I'm active and I'm playing hard, good things will happen for our team,' White said. 'I filled up the stat sheet, but that all comes from playing hard and being active on the floor.'

After the Hawkeyes jumped to a 19-9 lead, McCaffery rotated in Gabe Olaseni, Josh Oglesby, Trey Dickerson, Peter Jok and freshman Dom Uhl. They provided no offensive punch in nearly four minutes, and the lead dwindled from 10 points to 4.

'We shot it quick four times in a row,' McCaffery said. 'What I told the guys was, each shot that those individuals took – Josh took two, Pete took one, Trey took one – they're all good shots for them, but not when they're in a bunch, and not when they all miss. So we get up 10, we jack four-straight possessions, don't score, long rebound, running team. All of a sudden you look up, you're only up four. So we learned something there.'

McCaffery wasted no time getting his starters back in at the 10-minute mark, and they promptly ran off 11-straight points, capped by a 3-pointer from Anthony Clemmons for a 30-15 lead. Clemmons scored 12 points, making both of his 3-point attempts.

'Picking my spots, that's something that I have to be more cautious of,' Clemmons said. 'Taking advantage of those opportunities.'

Another Uthoff 3-pointer pushed the lead to 35-20 with 6:43 left. With the lead still at 15 at 39-24, McCaffery summoned the second unit for another go. They responded by helping push the lead to 53-28 at halftime behind a 3-pointer from Uhl and an Oglesby jumper.

'I had confidence that they would do that,' McCaffery said.

Olaseni led all bench scorers with 12 points. Jok added 11, and Uhl debuted with eight. Five Hawkeyes scored in double figures.

Dwight Meikle paced Hampton (0-1) with 14 points, which returned four starters and is picked to finish second in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

'We just did a bunch of careless things,' Hampton Coach Edward Joyner said. 'Which is sometimes indicative of a first game. So, we'll learn from it.'

Iowa hosts North Dakota State at 7 p.m. Monday in another 2K Classic regional game before traveling to New York City to play No. 10 Texas at Madison Square Garden next Thursday.