Iowa's Joe Wieskamp was on the All-Big Ten freshman team, and a preseason all-conference pick to start this season. — Kevin Jairaj/USA Today Sports

The Frontcourt: Wieskamp, Garza Ready To Build On Last Season

There is experience and depth among the forwards.

Author:
John Bohnenkamp
Publish date:
Nov 1, 2019 5:24 PM EDT

This will be an intriguing season for Iowa's Joe Wieskamp, just because he might be doing anything and everything.

The 6-foot-6 sophomore is set to be the starter at the '3' for the Hawkeyes. Maybe he moves to the '2' if the Hawkeyes go to a big lineup. Maybe there are times he's bringing the ball up the court and initiating the offense.

Wieskamp averaged 11.1 points and 4.9 rebounds last season, not missing a start in 35 games. He led the team in 3-point field goal percentage (59-of-139, .424) and was named to the Big Ten's all-freshman team. He is a preseason All-Big Ten pick, and he's coming off an offseason in which he tested the NBA draft process.

He will be one of Iowa's lead playmakers.

"I think he's really worked on becoming a little more versatile off the dribble," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. "He could always do that, but he was kind of a rip-and-drive, drive pull-up, catch-and-shoot guy. He's always going to be terrific at those three things, but I think you're seeing him do more off the dribble, not only for himself but for other people."

Luka Garza took an impressive step from freshman to sophomore last season, and what was even more remarkable was that he was questionable to play at the beginning of the season.

Garza had a large cyst removed from his abdomen in September, but he had a four-game stretch in the early weeks of the season in which he averaged 18.3 points and 5.5 rebounds. He injured his ankle in December, then came back to average 18.3 points in the first eight games after his return.

Garza, at 6-11, can score inside and outside — he had 21 3-pointers last season.

"So we can throw the ball inside and run our offense through him, but we can also set ball screens and we can pick-and-roll or pick-and-pop him because he can make that three," McCaffery said. Now, his (3-point) percentages the first two years were just OK. But he is killing it from there now, and he's always been a 3-point shooter, and we're going to consistently give him the green light to do it out there."

Ryan Kriener struggled as a sophomore, missing six games after suffering two concussions. But the 6-10 forward came back last season and averaged 5.7 points and three rebounds as a key contributor off the bench.

Kriener scored in double figures a career-high seven times last season, including an 11-point game in the Big Ten Tournament win over Illinois.

"Well, I think you look at Ryan's career, it's been a little unique because he played some his freshman year," McCaffery said. "We thought about redshirting him. His sophomore year was really good but then he had the two concussions so he missed a lot of games, so you sort of forgot about him, maybe, from the outside because he wasn't there. But once he was healthy, we saw it, especially in the Big Ten Tournament, late in that (2017-18) season (when he scored 14 points in the season-ending loss to Michigan)."

It was a lost season last year for junior Cordell Pemsl, who underwent leg surgery during the season and played just two games. The 6-9 forward has averaged 7.2 points and 4.7 rebounds in his career.

Pemsl provides a toughness to Iowa's interior game — he had eight points and six rebounds in a win over Iowa State last season just a week after it was announced he was going to miss the rest of the season.

Pemsl missed some early practice time, and will miss Iowa's exhibition game and season opener, after a late-September arrest on a drunken driving charge.

Jack Nunge has taken an unusual path in his college career — he played as a freshman, then sat out last season as a redshirt.

Nunge played in 33 games as a freshman, averaging 5.7 points and 2.8 rebounds.

"He's making shots at a high percentage," McCaffery said. "He's running the floor. Physically, he's really in a good place, not only in terms of size and strength but also in terms of stamina. When you have a skilled big man like that and his strength and stamina are in a good place, you end up with somebody who's productive."

There's another McCaffery son on the team — Patrick, a freshman, joins Connor, a third-year sophomore guard, on the roster.

Patrick is 6-9, but at just 190 pounds appears ticketed for a wing spot. He averaged 25.1 points and 7.6 rebounds as a senior at Iowa City West High School.

"The thing about Patrick is he can score," Fran McCaffery said. "He's always been a scorer, and he's very efficient. He's been a double-figure scorer in practice on limited shot attempts, shooting the ball well from three, gives you some length.

"If we're going against a team that decides they want to go with a non-traditional lineup, maybe with a four-guard set, we could play he and Joe (Wieskamp) at the '4' positions and still have tall, long, athletic guys because maybe we have to take one post player out, and we would prefer to play with two traditional posts."

Riley Till, a 6-7 third-year sophomore, is on scholarship this season. Till played in 16 games last season, including key minutes in a win over Oregon in the 2K Classic.

"He's been great," McCaffery said. "Physically he's in a terrific place. Really smart, really tough, incredible defender."