Iowa's bye week a balancing act

IOWA CITY — Sometimes a bye week comes at just the right time.

After Thursday night's loss to No. 23 Maryland, Iowa men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery acknowledged the six days between games serve the Hawkeyes well in a few ways. Chief among them: getting healthy.

Dom Uhl still is working back from a thumb injury. And most importantly for Iowa, Peter Jok can get rest and rehab on a back problem that popped up and a shoulder issue that's been around since the summer.

There's part of McCaffery that wanted the Hawkeyes to get right back on the floor for a game, but the bigger part was happy to get his guys time.

'I think the good thing is we had some days off. (Jok has) really hit it hard with treatment,' McCaffery said. 'We gave him the rest he needed. I think he's feeling a lot better.

'Those days off came at a real good time for him.'

How Jok has spent — and will spend, until the Hawkeyes leave for Champaign, Ill., to play Illinois on Wednesday — the bye has been something of a challenge for McCaffery and his staff, specifically trainer Brad Floy.

Jok knows his body, but also knows his future depends on what he does this season. He doesn't want to miss any time for that reason, but also because he simply loves playing the game. His instinct is to give it a go no matter what.

That was on display against Maryland, where he finished with 14 points and four rebounds despite back pain severe enough it was plain to see from anyone watching the game — highlighted by a fast break that finished with a light finish at the rim instead of an emphatic one.

In-game decisions injury-wise haven't been a struggle for McCaffery, he said, using the example of the Northwestern game. Jok was sick and dealing with the then-new back problem, and with the Hawkeyes being blown out, McCaffery sat him. In other games, if Floy gives the thumbs up and the game is on the line, Jok will play.

It's a balancing act as a coach and player — one Iowa must strike to keep its best player on the floor and effective.

'The challenge becomes: how do we get him ready for the games and making sure he practices enough, that his conditioning is where it needs to be, without him getting banged up in practice?' McCaffery said. 'Because he goes the same way in practice he does in games: he goes full tilt. That's why he's great. It's a constant balancing act between myself and our trainer and his personal competitive instincts. There's times when we'll have to protect him, and there's times when we'll turn him loose.'

LINEUP CHANGES POSSIBLE

In both of Iowa's last two games, the Hawkeyes got in an 8-0 hole before the first media timeout.

Some of that has to do with Northwestern and Maryland having talented rosters that have executed right from the start. Some has to do with Iowa not being effective defensively in those opening minutes. Some has to do with the Hawkeyes' offense struggling mightily at the same time.

All combined, it has McCaffery contemplating a change to the starting lineup.

'I'd say that's an accurate statement. I'm thinking about it. I haven't decided anything, but I'm thinking about it,' McCaffery said during a teleconference Monday.

The lineup of Jordan Bohannon, Peter Jok, Isaiah Moss, Cordell Pemsl and Tyler Cook has started the last six games, but it's been a mix of different lineups that have made a bigger impact in several of the games during that stretch.

McCaffery said during those slow starts, the group on the floor wasn't playing offense in the way the team had prepared. He said 'it was one pass, shot; one pass, turnover; two passes, turnover; one pass, bad shot,' and that moving the ball better is what gets people open and makes the offense flow.

Instead, 'the kids got all revved up and just went,' McCaffery said.

It's up to McCaffery to walk the line of correcting that but not stifling his shooters to pull the trigger when they're open.

'I encourage my guys to shoot the ball and be confident in doing so, and not necessarily worry about how early in the clock it is,' McCaffery said. 'I don't want Pete thinking, 'Coach wanted me to pass it four more times before we shoot.' No. Pete, you shoot it when you want. I put Bohannon in the same category. Those guys are good shooters, and they might only be open one time a possession because teams are trying to make sure they're not open any time in a possession. So it's OK to pull, but do we need to do it five straight times? And (we need to know), 'OK, we're at the wrong end of this thing. We're shooting quick and they're scoring.''

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