Iowa using final week before Big Ten as building block

IOWA CITY — Two games remain before the Iowa men's basketball team gets into Big Ten Conference play.

Those are two more chances to make sure whatever the Hawkeyes have found defensively isn't an aberration. They're potentially two chances for forward Tyler Cook to reintegrate himself into the fold and get himself back in game shape.

Whether or not Iowa (6-5) enters Big Ten play on a high note or not depends a lot on this week, starting with Tuesday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena against North Dakota. There's been a lot of ground made up in two in-state rivalry wins, and Coach Fran McCaffery and Co. don't want to lose any now.

'You want to keep getting better at what we've gotten better at doing in the last couple weeks. You do that collectively and individually,' McCaffery said. 'Obviously it was so easy to identify earlier in the season it was defense and turnovers.

'We addressed them. We've got really good character on this team, we've got talent and we've got a desire to be better. We had two really good games and that's terrific, but we've got a tough team coming in here (Tuesday) and we have to make sure we stay dialed in the way we've been.'

There's also a healthy dose of confidence that comes with all that.

Not that there wasn't confidence individually among key contributors Peter Jok, Cordell Pemsl, Jordan Bohannon, Isaiah Moss, Nicholas Baer, Ahmad Wagner, Cook et. al, but the kind they have now is of that collective variety.

They all believe in themselves, but had to take a few shots before taking the steps they've taken. McCaffery said Monday that's never the way a team wants to learn lessons, but often there's great value in it. Losing big to Virginia, falling on the road to Notre Dame after having a lead and then everyone's go-to for a low point, the Nebraska Omaha loss, all handed the Hawkeyes something.

'You start with a group that's trying to figure it out in the summer time, and you get a couple wins and feel like you're putting it together, and then you lose,' McCaffery said. 'And then it becomes evident that the consistency of what you're doing and the attention to detail of what you're doing is really critical. They've been able to figure that out. You try to help them figure that out before you lose; before you kind of have to find out the hard way, but sometimes that's the only thing that works.'

Getting Cook back won't hurt a thing, either.

The question remaining there, though, is exactly when. McCaffery said Monday Cook would be 'a day-to-day thing with him these next two games.' His status for the North Dakota game hinges on the time between practice Monday night and the 8 p.m. tipoff Tuesday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Cook's finger surgery was as much a long-term rehab application as it was just making him healthy for this season. McCaffery said they could've taped his hand and gotten through it, but with the surgery, things will be fully healed and Cook will have no limitations.

Because of that, they're taking extra caution bringing him back. If he's ready for North Dakota, McCaffery said 'I wouldn't start him,' but added he'd have no problems playing Cook on Tuesday night with part of one practice back from injury.

'We've just been real patient with him because we don't want another issue. We don't want this thing to come back on us.' McCaffery said. 'We'll just have to wait and see. He'll do some stuff in practice (Monday) and we'll make a game-time decision. The same thing on Wednesday if he doesn't play tomorrow.'

What happens whenever Cook is back still is a bit of a mystery — to the public and the Hawkeyes. Cook and Pemsl haven't played a ton at the same time, but what Pemsl has done in Cook's absence has made their duo a certainty.

McCaffery said he doesn't envision a problem, despite the fact they haven't run through it much yet, and that they had similar roles before. His observation that 'they're both willing passers; they're both smart players. They both can score, they both can rebound,' means it's worth it to them to figure it out.

Even if there's a temptation not to mess with what's worked the last few games, a player of Cook's caliber can't and won't be left out — especially if building on the Iowa State and Northern Iowa wins is going to happen. As the guy who benefitted from his friend and teammate being out, Pemsl knows that. He encourages it, in fact.

'Obviously I don't know what's going to happen when he gets back, but regardless I'm going to embrace my role and do what I need to do offensively, defensively and all those things,' Pemsl said. 'He's my roommate; he's one of my best friends.

'I can't wait to have him back. We'll be in the game together sometimes, sometimes not. We're both used to running down to this end of the floor and used to posting up. We'll have to adjust. But other than that, I don't see any problems with us playing together.'

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