Load Management: Hawkeyes Face More Minutes With Limited Options

It’s motivation, Ryan Kriener said.

The Iowa senior forward knows the doubters have pounced as the Hawkeyes’ roster options have become limited.

Iowa is down to eight scholarship players, and back-to-back losses on the road to Penn State and Nebraska have just increased the questions of whether the Hawkeyes can survive this.

CJ Fredrick is out indefinitely with a stress reaction in his left foot. Forward Jack Nunge and Jordan Bohannon are out for the rest of the season. Forward Patrick McCaffery is still dealing with health issues related to his 2014 treatment for thyroid cancer.

It is what it is, Kriener said, and the Hawkeyes can’t do anything about it.

“It’s easy to look at it from an outside perspective and say, ‘Oh, wow, look at what could have been, because we’ve got so many guys down,’” Kriener said Thursday. “We had Jack Nunge, and Jordan, and Pat, and everyone. It’s easy to look at that. I think a lot of the outside noise is kind of using that as an excuse.

“I think us internally, at least for me, anyway, we use it as a motivator. It’s just since I’ve been here, it’s been about proving people wrong. People have never really given us the credit we deserved, especially after my sophomore season. It’s always been a continuous chip on the shoulder, something more to prove. Coming out with an edge, something to prove, isn’t always a bad thing.”

That kind of attitude is something coach Fran McCaffery is wanting from his team.

“Things change throughout the course of the season,” McCaffery said. “You have to make adjustments, and guys have to recognize that. The only way we're going to overcome it is if everybody is on the same page in regard to the attitude that's necessary to continue to be successful.”

Iowa (10-5 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) plays No. 12 Maryland (13-2, 3-1) in Friday’s game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. In a conference full of balance and a traffic jam in the middle of the standings, the last thing the Hawkeyes can do is fall behind.

So McCaffery doesn’t want them feeling sorry for themselves.

“I think you can really fall into a trap with that,” he said. “We're not the only team that's going through this. We're not the only team in this league that's going through this. There's guys injured, there's guys that leave. Bottom line is we have other players that we believe in or they wouldn't be wearing this uniform. And so that's an opportunity for them to step up and produce when given the opportunity.”

McCaffery’s rotations have always been deep — he’s been known to use as many as 10 or more players in a given game. Now, the options are limited and for some, the minutes are going to go up.

Kriener is averaging 16.4 minutes per game, but is now in the starting lineup and played 28 1/2 minutes in Tuesday’s 76-70 loss at Nebraska. Freshman guard Joe Toussaint, who has started the last four games, played 34 1/2 minutes against Nebraska, but averages 16.8 minutes. Center Luka Garza, guard Joe Wieskamp and guard Connor McCaffery, all starters, played more than 35 minutes each against the Huskers.

“You have some guys who are going to get more minutes, and they're really good players, OK, they've got to stay on the floor more,” Fran McCaffery said. “And there's coaches in our profession that play six or seven every night. It's all they do. It's what they believe in. I've not done that. I've liked to play more like eight, nine or 10 if we can. That way when you're playing a fast tempo you always have fresh bodies out there.”

McCaffery said he can help manage players’ workloads.

“What I have to do is assess whether or not they can handle it from a conditioning standpoint because if you ask them, nobody would ever want to come out, and I respect that, and that's the way I was, and that's what I would expect them to be,” he said. “But if you have a guy that's really dragging because he's playing too many minutes, that's a problem, and you've got to get the guy out no matter what.

“But I think as time goes on, you can condition yourself to play more minutes. If you think about it, you've got four media timeouts in each half, I can use one in the first half, and I can do it again in the second half. I prefer to save mine, as we all know, but we needed them the other night at the end. But you can utilize them differently now with a shorter bench and rest your guys a little bit more.”

Garza, the only player in NCAA Division I averaging more than 20 minutes and 10 rebounds per game, is especially strong enough to handle minutes. He averages 30.1 minutes this season, 34.3 minutes in Big Ten play.

“Oh, yeah, he's capable,” McCaffery said. “We try to get him out a minute here, a minute there. You hope he stays out of foul trouble so you don't have to keep him out longer than that. He needs to be on the floor. Same with Joe (Wieskamp). I think Connor needs to be out there. Toussaint, as well.”

But even Garza isn’t in the best of health.

“Definitely the last couple of days, I’ve been really sick,” he said.

Don’t worry, though.

“I’m still going to play,” he said.