Basketball-wise, things get real this week for Iowa, ISU

The silly season for men's college basketball takes a hiatus this week, at least for Iowa and Iowa State.

The Hawkeyes and Cyclones both head to Florida this week for tournaments involving teams with names you actually recognize. No Kennesaw States or Texas Rio Grande Valleys.

Northern Iowa had a rather serious trip to Florida itself last weekend, beating Arizona State and Oklahoma before falling to then-No. 11 Xavier.

National statistics aren't worth a lot at this juncture, given that some teams have played stellar competition, and others haven't. Iowa is 3-1 on the backs of wins over Kennesaw State, Savannah State and the Rio Grande gang. ISU is 3-0 by beating Savannah State, Mount St. Mary's and The Citadel.

Amid it all, Iowa's Peter Jok, Iowa State's Monte Morris and Northern Iowa's Jeremy Morgan emerged today as their conferences' Players of the Week. Jok scored 57 points in two games. Morris had a triple-double in the Cyclones' 130-63 win over The Citadel.

Morris is averaging 18.7 points, 8.0 assists and 68.6 percent field goal shooting. He's good. So is Jok, who is 16th in the nation with 24.3 points per game. Both chose wisely when deciding to return for their senior seasons, though NBA people gave neither a reason to leave early.

That hasn't stopped other players from leaving too soon and never being heard from again.

Here are some other stats of note that aren't to be taken overly seriously given the teams they've beaten — Northern Iowa excepted. Knocking off a Pac-12 and Big 12 team on consecutive days was very nice work.

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Iowa State is third in the nation in scoring with 105.3 points per game. Iowa is 11th with 96.3.

• Iowa State is first in assists per game. Iowa is tied for fifth.

• UNI is 10th with 11.3 three-pointers per game. Iowa is tied for 11th with 11.0.

• UNI's Jeremy Morgan is tied for the nation's lead in steals with 4.0 per game. Like Jok and Morris, Morgan is a senior. He's averaging 17.0 points and 7.8 rebounds, and averaged 19 points, 10 rebounds, 4 steals and 4 assists in the Panthers' Florida tourney.

• Iowa State is tied with Indiana for first in rebound margin with +22.7 per game.

So that's all well and good. But the Hawkeyes play Virginia and either Providence or Memphis this week. Then they go to Notre Dame next Tuesday.

Virginia, by the way, is first in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 40.3 points per game. That's 6.7 fewer points than anyone else. The Cavaliers' three opponents — UNC Greensboro, St. Francis (N.Y.) and Yale — combined to shoot 31 percent from the field.

By the way, Iowa State is No. 2 in field goal defense, allowing just 29.0 percent. Utah is No. 1 at 24.6 percent.

The Cyclones play Indiana State, either Miami (Fla.) or Stanford, and one of four possible teams in a third game that include Gonzaga and Seton Hall.

UNI? It plays Xavier again, on Saturday. At Xavier.