Hawkeyes unsatisfied following exhibition win
Posted on 03. Nov, 2013 by admin in Iowa Basketball
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Without actually seeing Iowa win its exhibition game with Augustana 87-65 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday, one might’ve thought the Hawkeyes lost given the way head coach Fran McCaffery and his players spoke afterwards.
McCaffery anticipated a stiff challenge from the Vikings. In fact, that was the very reason he scheduled them as Iowa’s exhibition opponent Sunday afternoon. He ended up getting just a little more than he bargained for, however and called out his team for its struggles on the court.
“We were substantially outplayed today by that team,” McCaffery said. “And I think that’s exactly what our team needed today. I think we needed to get outfought, to get outplayed. We needed a team that was going to force us into mistakes.”
McCaffery wasn’t alone in his sentiments. When junior forward Aaron White was asked to assess the Hawkeyes’ performance, he didn’t mince words either, saying they looked “too casual.”
“From our standpoint, me personally, I’m a little disappointed in how we played,” White said. “I don’t think we came out with the fire that we should have or with the intensity and high energy we should have played at.”
Part of those mistakes were 12 turnovers, which McCaffery and his players mostly credited to Augustana’s ability to change up defenses possession by possession. There were also 11 missed free throws out of 50 attempts from the foul line. Both teams ended up making 23 field goal attempts on the afternoon, with Augustana taking six more shots than Iowa.
One area specifically where the Hawkeyes struggled mightily Sunday was 3-point shooting, as they managed to only knock down two 3-pointers out of 18 attempted. Six of those misses came from freshman guard Peter Jok in what was his Hawkeye debut.
“We had open shots. It’s just knocking them down,” said McCabe, who had one of those two 3-pointers Iowa made. “I mean, it’s different from practice to a game obviously and we’ve got to freshen.
“I think we were just being a little too quick, not being smart on offense.”
The most staggering statistic of all though was the 50 free throws attempted by Iowa. Both teams combined for totals of 70 free-throw attempts on 52 fouls called by the officials. Three Augustana players fouled out of the game, one of whom had four of his fouls in the first half alone.
McCaffery immediately made note of the game being called differently, saying it’s clearly going to be that way, “at least for a while, if not the rest of the season.” “It” refers to the emphasis being placed this season on hand-checks by defenders and the new block/charge call, where now a defender has to always be in a legal guarding position anytime a player with the ball takes an upward motion to release the ball — either passing or shooting.
Iowa received a pair of 16-point performances Sunday from McCabe and junior forward Aaron White, both of whom made their presences felt at the charity stripe. White shot 8-of-10 from the foul line, while McCabe was 11-of-12.
“I don’t know if it will always be like as many fouls as there was today,” White said. “One of two things will happen — either the teams will adjust or the refs won’t be able to call it like that.
“We did a good job of attacking and getting to the line.”
Iowa now sets its sights toward Nov. 8, when it officially opens the2013-14 season at home against UNC-Wilmington. Tip-off from Carver-Hawkeye Arena is set for 8:30 p.m. Central and the game will be shown exclusively online on ESPN3. The thing to watch for will be how much improvement the Hawkeyes make from what they view as a lackluster outing.
“Our guys weren’t ready,” McCabe said. “As a senior and all the other guys, we know we need to get these guys ready to go. Practice this week is going to be intense and we’re going to be ready for it.”
Iowa stat leaders:
Points — Aaron White, Zach McCabe both with 16 points
Rebounds — Adam Woodbury, 11 rebounds
Assists — Mike Gesell, 5 assists
Postgame video:
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