JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
The Iowa Men's basketball team reeled off its third straight win on Thursday night, beating a veteran Boise State team 81-72. The Broncos had also beaten Drake by over 40 points earlier this season.
Iowa was led in scoring by Aaron White and Devyn Marble who poured in 18 apiece. It was Marble's fifth straight game in double figures and seventh in his last eight outings. He has had 24 assists to just seven turnovers in his last five games, playing most of the time at the point guard position. Marble also added eight rebounds in this game along with five assists and just one turnover.
Prior to the start of the season, everyone was concerned about Iowa's point guard depth as Bryce Cartwright was the only true point guard on the roster. Cartwright has been less than 100 percent for the past four of five games and Marble has stepped in and done a very good job running this team, much to my surprise. He is now the team's second leading scorer at 10.9 points per game and has a stellar 48 to 12 assist to turnover ratio on the year.
White is probably playing at a higher level than I felt he would play, although I thought he'd impress a lot of fans with his energy and overall game. He is averaging over nine point and nearly five rebounds per game in little more than 17 minutes per contest, which is excellent production for any player, much less a skinny true freshman.
Melsahn Basabe continues his improved play, scoring 14 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. That's four straight games in double figure scoring for Mel, and he has averaged 14 points and 8.5 rebounds in that stretch.
Iowa committed just five turnovers in this game and only one in the second half. They won the battle of the boards 35-34, but this is going to be an area of concern as the Hawkeyes enter Big Ten play; they haven't been a great rebounding team this year, just +2.5 in rebounding differential on the season thus far against a weak out of conference slate.
Matt Gatens added 13 points for Iowa while Josh Oglesby scored nine.
Let me circle back to the play of Marble. He continues to gain confidence and he is getting more comfortable with the ball in his hand. He has a scorers mentality in that he doesn't let a bad shot affect his aggressiveness the next time down the court. He also has a great deal of room for improvement, mostly on the physical side. He turned 19 back in September as a true sophomore. Most college students turn 19 during their freshmen years, so Marble is definitely young 'for his age', meaning year in school.
While his level of play has elevated this year, I think he still has exponential room for growth and might develop into something special.
For now, we'll just let him be Devyn. He'll make mistakes and have poor outings along the way, but you can see the potential oozing out of him. The same can be said for Aaron White, and it would seem Basabe is learning how to play with the 20 extra pounds he put on in the off season. Oglesby has also shown he can play at this level and McCabe will come around.
Iowa is showing its fans that it has a nice nucleus for the future, as each of the players mentioned will have two more years of eligibility after this season is over. Combine that with the incoming recruiting class that is the highest rated Iowa class in a decade and there are obvious signs of hope.
That said, Big Ten play begins late next week. This league is stacked and the Hawkeyes enter league play with an 8-5 record and they need at least eight wins before the end of the regular season to put themselves in a position to finish the year with at least a .500 record.
That's not going to be an easy task.
Iowa was led in scoring by Aaron White and Devyn Marble who poured in 18 apiece. It was Marble's fifth straight game in double figures and seventh in his last eight outings. He has had 24 assists to just seven turnovers in his last five games, playing most of the time at the point guard position. Marble also added eight rebounds in this game along with five assists and just one turnover.
Prior to the start of the season, everyone was concerned about Iowa's point guard depth as Bryce Cartwright was the only true point guard on the roster. Cartwright has been less than 100 percent for the past four of five games and Marble has stepped in and done a very good job running this team, much to my surprise. He is now the team's second leading scorer at 10.9 points per game and has a stellar 48 to 12 assist to turnover ratio on the year.
White is probably playing at a higher level than I felt he would play, although I thought he'd impress a lot of fans with his energy and overall game. He is averaging over nine point and nearly five rebounds per game in little more than 17 minutes per contest, which is excellent production for any player, much less a skinny true freshman.
Melsahn Basabe continues his improved play, scoring 14 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. That's four straight games in double figure scoring for Mel, and he has averaged 14 points and 8.5 rebounds in that stretch.
Iowa committed just five turnovers in this game and only one in the second half. They won the battle of the boards 35-34, but this is going to be an area of concern as the Hawkeyes enter Big Ten play; they haven't been a great rebounding team this year, just +2.5 in rebounding differential on the season thus far against a weak out of conference slate.
Matt Gatens added 13 points for Iowa while Josh Oglesby scored nine.
Let me circle back to the play of Marble. He continues to gain confidence and he is getting more comfortable with the ball in his hand. He has a scorers mentality in that he doesn't let a bad shot affect his aggressiveness the next time down the court. He also has a great deal of room for improvement, mostly on the physical side. He turned 19 back in September as a true sophomore. Most college students turn 19 during their freshmen years, so Marble is definitely young 'for his age', meaning year in school.
While his level of play has elevated this year, I think he still has exponential room for growth and might develop into something special.
For now, we'll just let him be Devyn. He'll make mistakes and have poor outings along the way, but you can see the potential oozing out of him. The same can be said for Aaron White, and it would seem Basabe is learning how to play with the 20 extra pounds he put on in the off season. Oglesby has also shown he can play at this level and McCabe will come around.
Iowa is showing its fans that it has a nice nucleus for the future, as each of the players mentioned will have two more years of eligibility after this season is over. Combine that with the incoming recruiting class that is the highest rated Iowa class in a decade and there are obvious signs of hope.
That said, Big Ten play begins late next week. This league is stacked and the Hawkeyes enter league play with an 8-5 record and they need at least eight wins before the end of the regular season to put themselves in a position to finish the year with at least a .500 record.
That's not going to be an easy task.
