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jordan-garretson@uiowa.edu
The Iowa men’s basketball provided coach Fran McCaffery with a mixed bag in a 79-59 exhibition win against Northwest Missouri State on Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Matt Gatens scored a game-high 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Eric May filled the stat sheet with nine points, seven rebounds, and four assists. And the Hawkeyes’ 25-of-31 free-throw shooting was a positive sign for McCaffery after Iowa shot just 67.6 percent from the line last season, the third-worst mark in the Big Ten.
But the Hawkeyes also surrendered 15 second-chance points to the Bearcats on 14 offensive rebounds. Melsahn Basabe — a Big Ten all-freshman team selection a year ago — struggled at times. The sophomore forward finished with six points and three rebounds and was just 1-of-5 from the floor. And Iowa’s defense failed to rotate on occasion, resulting in easy baskets for the opposition.
“We played ball screens well at times, we didn’t rotate at times,” McCaffery said. “Sometimes it was a function of fatigue, sometimes it was a function of confusion.
“Is there anybody that really upset me? I would like for Melsahn to have played better,” McCaffery said. “But I wasn’t totally displeased with him. I thought his energy level late was good … He’s got to play a little better than that for us to be the kind of team we can be.”
Basabe is fresh off a 2010-11 season in which he became the first freshman in Iowa history to total 340 points, 200 rebounds, and 40 blocks. The 19-year-old said he has been sick for the last week, but it didn’t excuse a performance he described as disappointing.
“Anything I did last year doesn’t mean anything this year,” Basabe said, his voice noticeably more nasal than usual. “It’s going to be harder. People are going to play me harder … I had to think back on how hard I had to work to do that stuff. As you rise in status and you get older and the expectations get higher, it takes more effort and energy.”
Northwest Missouri State produced a 10-7 first-half advantage in offensive rebounds, which was one of the biggest reasons the Bearcats only trailed Iowa 37-28 at halftime.
Two perimeter players — May and Roy Devyn Marble — were Iowa’s leading rebounders, with seven and six boards, respectively. Meanwhile, Iowa’s interior players — Basabe, Devon Archie, Gabe Olaseni, Zach McCabe, and Aaron White — combined for just nine rebounds.
Iowa managed to clean things up in the second half, limiting the Bearcats to four offensive boards.
“Offensive rebounds are just unacceptable. Good teams don’t give up second-chance points,” Basabe said. “… It’s one of those things that can decide a game. A lot of people don’t realize it … Sometimes those can be as deadly as 3-point shots. We definitely need to eliminate that.”
May’s versatile performance was particularly encouraging considering his inconsistency last season as a sophomore. He averaged 7.8 points and 2.9 rebounds a game last year after posting 9.0 and 4.6 as a freshman.
“Last year he was a little bit tentative and when he was, he had a tendency to make mistakes,” McCaffery said. “Well he’s not tentative anymore so he’s not making mistakes. He’ll miss shots and he’ll throw it away once in a while, but that’s just part of the game because I want him to be an attack player.”
The Hawkeyes also received valuable contributions from two of their three true freshmen. Guard Josh Oglesby hit a 3-pointer in his first minute on the floor, and 6-8 forward Aaron White recorded eight points, five rebounds, and four blocks.
“[White] He’s a guy off the bench who can really move his feet,” Gatens said. “He has a great feel for the game, passing it, dribbling it, shooting it. He can do it all and he’s a matchup problem.”
Iowa’s third freshman and tallest player — 6-10 center Gabe Olaseni — played only five minutes, totaling as many points (two) as he did fouls.
Iowa will open its regular season schedule Friday against Chicago State at 7 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“There’s things we have to work on,” Gatens said. “… Obviously, we’ll look at the tape and see a few more things. On defense we needed to tighten up some things. It was a good effort from everybody and a good start.”
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