Hawkeyes remain confident despite exhibition loss

IOWA CITY - Iowa's players remain confident following an unexpected exhibition loss to Division II power Augustana (S.D.) last week. But that doesn't mean there aren't concerns, either.

The Hawkeyes, who open regular-season play against Gardner-Webb on Friday, were out-rebounded 42-35 by the Vikings. Iowa also gave up 12 offensive boards and grabbed only 10. Then you add only five free-throw attempts - all by guard Peter Jok - and you've got questions about aggressiveness.

'I think one of the biggest things was the shots we missed, and we only got (10) offensive rebounds,” Iowa point guard Mike Gesell said. 'Only getting to the free-throw line five times, especially when we have the height advantage, we should be rebounding and taking it at them a little bit better. That was one of the more frustrating things, but very fixable things. So it's nothing to get too frustrated about. They're all things that can be fixed very easily, and we've been working on it in practice.”

'We've got to be more aggressive, for sure,” Iowa forward Jarrod Uthoff said

All of Iowa's starters played at least 23 minutes against Augustana and only two bench players - junior forward Dale Jones and red-shirt freshman guard Brady Ellingson - saw double-digit action. Red-shirt freshman forward Nicholas Baer was the only other player with second-half minutes. The lack of playing time sent a message to Iowa's true freshmen, and Coach Fran McCaffery liked how they responded.

'I thought exactly as you would hope, and as you know, it doesn't always go that way,” he said. 'There can be pouting, there can be confusion. There can be feelings of uncertainty. But they came back, and they were getting after it, and that's what you want.

'What you're seeing is they're figuring it out because the reason they don't play more is they don't have it figured out yet. That's why we played Augustana. If we would have played somebody else and drilled them, we chose not to do that. Because you don't see your holes unless you play somebody good, and somebody experienced, and we were able to find our holes and try to address them before we play a game that counts.”

Gardner-Webb counts, and it's hardly a pushover opponent. Three years ago, the Bulldogs led Iowa by 23 points in the first half. The Hawkeyes rallied to win by nine, which statistically is the school's greatest comeback. Gardner-Webb finished 20-15 last year and beat Purdue last December.

Center Tyrell Nelson (6-foot-7) led the Big South in shooting percentage last year. He combines versatility with strength. In the CIT postseason tournament, Nelson scored 27 points against Colorado.

'They're athletic. They're quick and they're powerful,” McCaffery said. 'They're deep. They don't have a lot of experience back. They've got a handful of quality players that have put up some numbers. Nelson is clearly one of them.”

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