Iowa's Fran McCaffery still debating lineup changes

IOWA CITY - Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said Friday he's undecided whether freshman Josh Oglesby will replace junior Eric May in the starting lineup for Saturday's game against Brown.

May has struggled offensively in Iowa's last four games, scoring a combined 14 points, including only two each against both IPFW and Clemson. Oglesby, a Cedar Rapids native, has scored at least 14 points in three of Iowa's last five games and sank all three of Iowa's 3-pointers in a loss to Clemson on Tuesday.

"I'm oftentimes a little more reluctant to make lineup switches than maybe some other coaches would be," McCaffery said. "I think that the one thing that's clearly evident is Josh Oglesby needs to play, and he needs to play a lot. One way to get him more minutes is to put him in the starting lineup."

Iowa (4-3) has lost three of its last four games by double digits. After a 71-55 loss to Clemson on Tuesday, McCaffery suggested lineup changes were coming. As of Friday morning, he's debating between switching May and Oglesby.

"I feel like those two in particular, but there could be other change we make, quite frankly, but probably not," McCaffery said. "That would probably be the only one that I would make at the present time, if I was going to make it at all. I'm hopeful that ultimately the collective effect is something positive and not just making a change to make a change."

McCaffery gave the players Wednesday off after 13 consecutive days of games or practices. The team worked at all areas on Thursday, and he said there's an emphasis on getting Melsahn Basabe involved at both ends of the court.

Basabe, an all-Big Ten freshman team member last year, has combined for eight points and 11 rebounds in Iowa's last four games. McCaffery said he's had candid discussions with Basabe about his play and suggested there are multiple layers of issues for Basabe's drop-off.

"I don't think he's getting the ball enough," McCaffery said. "I don't think he's getting the ball in positions where he can do anything with it. I think while a lot of it is a struggle on his part, we're not getting the kind of point guard play that we need to get him to be more effective. So we're addressing those issues with Bryce Cartwright and Devyn Marble.

"It's always a little more complicated than, 'OK, Melsahn's not playing well. Let's get him going.' There's a lot of factors involved."

Basabe averaged 11 points and 6.8 rebounds a game last year but increased his weight by about 25 pounds in the offseason. McCaffery said Basabe's energy level must improve at both ends of the court.

"Let's be realistic here: it's not all, ‘He's not getting the ball,' " McCaffery said. "He's not going after those rebounds with two hands like he used to get in traffic. He did that (Thursday), and he's been doing that in practice, and he's just got to transfer that to the floor."

Marble suffered an ankle injury against Clemson but should play against Brown. Senior center Devon Archie re-injured his wrist this week and his status is undetermined.

"He did something to it again so he did not practice (Thursday)," McCaffery said. "So he's taped up pretty good. I don't know how effective he's going to be, quite frankly.

"Marble's sore, but he can play and he will play."