Iowa men face D-II preseason No. 1 in exhibition

IOWA CITY — As far as basketball exhibitions go, Augustana (S.D.) won't provide Iowa with a chance to work on rotations and still yawn out a victory.

Augustana enters the preseason as the top-ranked Division II men's basketball program. The Vikings won 31 games last year, including 19 in a row at one point. All five starters return, buoyed by All-American post Daniel Jansen (19.7 points, 7.1 rebounds). It's a team that can beat many Division I teams straight-up in a game.

'I think there's two ways to look at exhibition games,' Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'You can look at it, where you're playing somebody that you know you're going to beat and play everybody and work on some things, and you can play somebody who won 31 games who's experienced and has really talented players and they're going to challenge you in a different way. So clearly that's what this game is.'

Friday's game marks an interesting battle between Jansen and Iowa center Adam Woodbury, who were AAU teammates for a couple of years. At MOC-Floyd Valley, Jansen twice was named first-team all-state in Class 3A. Woodbury enters his fourth year as a starter with the Hawkeyes.

'A great guy, he really is,' Woodbury said. 'He comes from a great family. He's put in a lot of good work there in Sioux Falls. I'm happy for him and the success he's had. On Friday night, it's going to be a little different.'

Iowa guard Mike Gesell also played alongside Jansen and Woodbury in AAU ball.

'He's a very tough match-up. He's a very skilled player,' Gesell said. 'A guy that can shoot outside, and he's got all the moves inside. He's fun to play with in AAU, and he's going to fun to match up against him now. A little bit like being able to play Marcus (Paige) last year and now we get to play Dan. It's a lot of fun seeing him again.'

Iowa's players and coaches had a healthy respect for Augustana based on their experience and returnees. Senior forward Casey Schilling had 13 double-doubles last year, including a 30-15 game last year. Both Jansen and Schilling have scored at least 1,350 points in their careers. Sophomore point guard Jordan Spencer dished at least five assists in 25 games and averaged 6.3 overall.

For Iowa, all five starters are upperclassmen, but with five freshmen and a junior-college transfer, the Hawkeyes need its depth to grow and complement their experience. Consistency is vital.

'We have arguably the toughest schedule we've played in a long time,' McCaffery said. 'So this, I think, would better prepare us for what we're going to face in the ensuing weeks and not a game that we're just going to rotate everybody in and not really see where our deficiencies are and how good we can be.'

At times Iowa was sluggish in its exhibition opener against Sioux Falls, a 99-73 win. Woodbury said the Hawkeyes can't play like that again and expect to win.

'We had a slow start against Sioux Falls the other night and we can't do that against Augustana,' he said. 'They've got too good of a team.'

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