Insight from Iowa basketball ahead of Tuesday’s season opener against North Dakota

IOWA CITY — On the eve of Iowa’s 2023-24 regular-season opener, Patrick McCaffery arrived at Monday’s media availability in sweaty fashion.

For McCaffery to be doused in perspiration isn’t a surprise given, of course, he is a basketball player. But the timing of it was a bit head-scratching. Iowa hadn’t yet practiced at the time that McCaffery met with reporters.

The exchange ensuing exchange went like this:

A reporter asks: “Did you just come from a workout?”

McCaffery confirms he did.

McCaffery is asked: “What were you doing?”

“A lot of shooting,” he says. “A lot of shooting, ball-handling, just skill stuff, hone on certain things.”

“And that was before practice?”

“Yeah,” McCaffery says, nodding his head.

“Why did you do it?” 

“Just do it every day,” McCaffery said. “And by no means am I alone in that. I think a lot of our guys kinda take initiative and work really hard on their individual games. And I think that’s going to translate.”

That’s a beneficial mindset to have, especially given how Iowa is set up this season.

Patrick McCaffery talks putting in extra work before practice

Patrick McCaffery talks putting in extra work before practice on Monday.

This is a roster that looks vastly different than last season. The Hawkeyes saw the departures of Kris Murray, Filip Rebraca, Connor McCaffery and Ahron Ulis. Iowa brought in six new scholarship players to the program — four freshmen and two transfers. That has been combined with a returning core highlighted by McCaffery, Payton Sandfort and Tony Perkins.

The Hawkeyes have had a variety of tuneups before their matchup with North Dakota at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Tuesday. Iowa went overseas to play a foreign tour in August, recording a 3-0 record during that trip. Its preparation for Tuesday also included an exhibition against Quincy last week, which the Hawkeyes won, 103-76.

We’ve gotten snippets of what Iowa looks like. But Tuesday marks the beginning of a stretch of months that should provide a broader window into what the Hawkeyes are capable of this season.

“I take a pretty businesslike approach across the board,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “The first day of practice, the first game … If you start getting too hyped up, too high or too low, I don’t think that works.”

About North Dakota

North Dakota went 13-20 overall last season. It lost in the quarterfinals of the Summit League Tournament to Oral Roberts, which went on to win the event.

While North Dakota did lose some key contributors from that team, it is returning last season’s leading scorer, B.J. Omot, who averaged 12 points per game. Tsotne Tsartsidze, who averaged nearly 11 points per game last season, is back as well.

Ahead of the 2023-24 season, Omot was selected to the Preseason All-Summit League Second Team. North Dakota was picked to fifth in the league.

Last week, North Dakota beat Northland College 107-48 in an exhibition. In that exhibition, North Dakota’s starting lineup consisted of Omot, Tsartsidze and Treysen Eaglestaff, plus two newcomers —  Eli King (Iowa State) and Deng Mayar (Howard College in Texas).

Omot led all scorers with 25 points. Eaglestaff had 15 points. That duo combined to go 6-of-8 from deep. As a team, North Dakota shot 10-of-23 from three.

Dasonte Bowen taking on starting point guard role

Dasonte Bowen talks role for Iowa ahead of 2023-24 season

Dasonte Bowen talks role for Iowa ahead of 2023-24 season.

Bowen is one of the wild cards for Iowa entering this season. He showed flashes of potential as a freshman, though it wasn’t on a consistent basis. He used the offseason to put on approximately 9-10 pounds. At times, he was even in the weight room twice in one day. 

Bowen cracked the starting lineup in Iowa’s exhibition against Quincy last week. 

He described himself as a “scoring guard” but has shifted his focus because of who he’s playing with in Iowa’s starting five. Iowa already has a lot of scoring in that lineup with Perkins, Payton Sandfort, Patrick McCaffery and Ben Krikke. Bowen understands that his primary role won’t always necessarily be to put the ball in the basket.

“With the type of talent that we have, that has to take a step back as a point guard,” Bowen said. “My main priority will be to facilitate. And then, when necessary, be the scoring guard.”

Bowen is dynamic with the ball, but a key for him this season will be to limit turnovers. He had three assists to four turnovers in the exhibition against Quincy, a ratio that won’t get it done in the Big Ten. Being a playmaker while avoiding mistakes is a fine line he’ll have to balance.

Patrick McCaffery’s on what could “make or break” season

From Patrick McCaffery’s perspective, Iowa’s season could be decided by defensive rebounding.

“Defensive rebounding is what’s gonna kinda make or break our season, realistically,” Patrick McCaffery said. “So we know that. We’re well aware. So we’ve been really locked in and trying to get better every single day.”

At least right now, Iowa seems better equipped in this area than it was last season. The Hawkeyes had a relatively undersized frontcourt with Rebraca and Murray last season, plus there wasn’t much depth behind them. Iowa’s frontcourt in the starting lineup is undersized again this season — with Krikke being the only true paint player.

But Iowa seems to have more capable options off the bench to help. Freshmen Owen Freeman and Ladji Dembele have the potential to provide athleticism, rim protection and relief on the glass. That’s a dynamic Iowa lacked last season.

Follow Tyler Tachman on X @Tyler_T15, contact via email at ttachman@gannett.com