Historic night for Iowa's Aaron White

IOWA CITY - Aaron White put together perhaps the most impressive debut in Iowa basketball history Friday night.

White, a 6-foot-8 forward from Strongsville, Ohio, scored 19 points and collected 10 rebounds in Iowa's 96-53 pasting of Chicago State in the season opener at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. He's the first rookie to notch a double-double in his first game since Jess Settles' 13-point, 11-rebound performance against Drake on Nov. 30, 1993.

No freshman had scored at least 19 points in a debut since the early 1970s when freshmen were ineligible to play, according to Iowa's sports information staff. The only freshman in recent history to approach White's 19 points in a debut was Ricky Davis, who scored 18 against Chicago State in 1997.

"He's a terrific player," Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. "He's a complete player. I said this before, when you have a 6-8 player who understands how to play, dribble, pass, shoot, post up, play in the zone ... He's got feel. He doesn't rattle. There's no panic in him at all."

White played only 18 minutes but was 6-of-12 from the floor. He also added two steals and had only one turnover. He brought immediate energy when he entered the game with 15:20 left in the first half. At the end, when he needed only one rebound to clinch the double-double, he followed his own 3-point miss.

"I should have made that 3," White said. "It was my easiest shot of the night."

He said he was unaware of his statistical achievement until a radio interview after the game.

"I was pleasantly surprised to hear that," White said.

White's play didn't surprise his Iowa teammates.

"We all know what he's capable of," Iowa senior guard Matt Gatens said. "We all saw the Prime Time League, and we've seen it in practice. The kid can play. He's going to be a big player here for four years and this is just a start, but a great start."

"He had a tremendous game for us," Iowa senior point guard Bryce Cartwright said. "We're going to need more of that from him."

White's contributions were just a small part of Iowa's bench play, which totaled 57 points and outscored Chicago State's entire team. Sophomore forward Zach McCabe also played 18 minutes and scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds. Guard Devyn Marble played a complete 21 minutes with six points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and no turnovers.

"You can see it in practice every day that everybody can come out and play, and they showed it today," Iowa forward Eric May said.

May also had a solid night, scoring 12 points, dishing five assists and grabbing two steals. Melsahn Basabe scored 14 points and went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line.

The win stopped Iowa's opening-game losing streak at two. Iowa also announced a paid attendance of 12,897, the largest opening-night crowd since 2001.

"That's pretty cool," Gatens said.

Iowa began the game on a 10-0 run, aided by six consecutive Chicago State turnovers on the Cougars' first six possessions. Chicago State hit only one 3-pointer, scored only five points outside of the paint or the free-throw line and had 27 turnovers.

"I think my team was really intimidated with the atmosphere," Chicago State Coach Tracy Dildy said. "For a lot of these guys it's tough to come play a Big Ten arena on opening night, and especially a team that feels they really have something to prove, which is how the Hawkeyes feel.

"Iowa smelled blood, and they went after it."

Iowa plays host to North Carolina A&T on Monday.

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