Iowa's Lickliter: Tough start is 'excruciating'

Iowa's worst five-game start in 80 years has taken a tough toll on its coaches and players.

Iowa Coach Todd Lickliter said Friday the combination of a young team and a challenging schedule has caused many of the Hawkeyes' on-court problems. Iowa is 1-4 for the first time since 1929, and nobody associated with the problem is happy about it.

"It's excruciating," Lickliter said. "But the nice thing is we've got the right kind of people, they're high character, they're competitive.

"The balance is being realistic but not accepting. I don't want to accept, and they don't want me to. I tell them all the time, would you want me to accept less than what you're capable of ? That wouldn't be fair."

Iowa starts just one upperclassmen -- junior post Jarryd Cole. The team's top five scoring leaders are either freshmen or sophomores.

Sophomores Matt Gatens (10.2) and Anthony Tucker (9.8) are the team's scoring leaders, but neither have hit from the perimeter on a consistent basis. Both are shooting 25 percent from three-point range. Each sank better than 40 percent of their three-point shots last year.

Lickliter said the players' shot selection is fine. But he's more aggravated with the team's overall assist-to-turnover ratio. In five games Iowa has 71 turnovers to just 58 assists.  

"I don't want them to be discouraged," Lickliter said. "I want them to continue to be as positive as possible, but at the same time it's not acceptable. We can't accept this. We've got to compete."

Iowa plays host to North Carolina Central (1-5) at 12:36 p.m. Saturday on the Big Ten Network.