Three Takeaways: Iowa newbies, position flexibility

1. Newbies provide a spark.

Iowa newcomers Trey Dickerson and Dominique Uhl each played more than 21 minutes in Sunday's exhibition. Both are athletic and provide instant energy when inserted into the lineup.

Dickerson, a 6-foot point guard, is lightning quick and alters the game with his speed. He gets players involved and attacks the lane like no other guard Iowa has had in recent memory.

'You see a lot of guys like him in AAU, small, quick guards,” Iowa senior Aaron White said. 'But, man, when you've got one on your team, it just brings another element to what you can do, offensively and defensively. He's a pest defensively when he really wants to pressure up and get up in somebody. He threw a great lob to Gabe (Olaseni). He had great kick-outs to Pete (Jok) and Josh (Oglesby). Obviously he made his mistakes; (it's his) first game. He'll learn from those. He's only going to keep getting better, in my estimation.”

Dickerson was 3 of 4 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers. He had two steals and two assists but also had three turnovers in 21 minutes. Dickerson also tossed the game's highlight-reel play to Olaseni for an alley-oop dunk. Dickerson had a midcourt steal late in the first half and scooted to the basket. But he was moving too quickly and missed a cakewalk layup.

'On that layup I was thinking too much,” Dickerson said. 'I was thinking I was going to dunk it, then I was like, ‘I'm going to lay it up,' and I flicked it up there.”

Dickerson, a sophomore, understands he gets going too fast and that leads to unnecessary mistakes. Iowa is an up-tempo team that wants to push the ball in transition. No player on Iowa's roster fits that description better than Dickerson. But he also has to slow it down and work clock when necessary. That's something he's working on.

'He has a hard time going from fast to slow because he just kind of plays the game at one speed, and he's got a gear that most people don't have, and that will really help our team, plus he can shoot the ball,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'So when you're fast and can't shoot, they can play you one way. But when you're fast and can shoot, now it's hard to guard that guy.”

'The speed thing, I'm working on changing it a little bit,” Dickerson said. 'Like changing speeds, when to go fast, when to change it up a little bit.”

Uhl, who is all of 6-8, has raw athletic ability but his upside is immense. He played a team-high 24 minutes and hit just 2 of 9 shots for six points. His statistics were all over the board, from eight rebounds to three turnovers. He also blocked two shots and dished two assists.

Uhl is sneaky good in traffic and kind of slithers his way to the basket for rebounds. He's a natural rebounder, very fast and a tremendous leaper. He also has a nice midrange jumper.

With a year on the floor in Big Ten play and an off-season in the weight room, Uhl could become one of the league's top forwards. Right now he's a bit timid near the basket and tries to be too precise. That's understandable for a freshman.

'His handle for a guy who's 6-9 is very unique,” McCaffery said. 'He can go by anybody he wants whenever he wants to. You can put him in the guard position against the press and he can see and make plays for other people. There's no panic in his game. He sometimes gets to the rim and gets a little jammed up. He's going to have to figure out and close a little quicker at this level. The one time he shot, he just kind of flung it up there. You know, go score the ball. He's got a nice touch.

'I think what you'll see him do is drive and finish with dunks a little more often as he gets older and stronger and more confident in his game. His jumper needs work, but it's solid enough. I'm surprised he didn't make at least one of those three 3s that he took quite honestly. He's going to be a great player here, there's no question about it.”

2. Combinations.

It's doubtful you'll see much of a 'twin towers” look with Adam Woodbury and Gabe Olaseni on the court at the same time. It might happen in match-up situations, but Uhl's presence and the potential for three-guard lineups limit the likelihood of it happening very often.

'They'll do it at times,” McCaffery said. 'I don't think this was the right situation for it. We were playing against a team that we needed to match up with a little bit, too.”

Iowa did put shooting guards Peter Jok and Josh Oglesby on the court at the same time for significant stretches on Sunday. It's not Iowa's best defensive lineup, but it is potent from the perimeter. Oglesby hit 3 of 7 from 3-point range, and Jok scored a team-high 16 points with two 3-pointers.

'(Jok is) amazing; he gets 16 in 17 minutes; he's got that ability,” McCaffery said. 'He's a guy that we look at that could eventually be the starter.”

Iowa opened with Anthony Clemmons at the point and Mike Gesell started at off-guard. Gesell started at the two 13 times as a freshman and twice last year. Clemmons is Iowa's best backcourt defender and plays with a tenacity. He's also a good distributor, plays unselfishly and is not afraid to take open shots.

'I wanted to start the season off right,” Clemmons said. 'It was an exhibition, but it's always good to basically count on what our team is going to be like this year. This is the mark of what our team is going to be like so if I'm that guy who's going to bring that energy on the defensive end and get steals like that to help our break, I just want to be that guy.”

3. Coaching against a legend.

Northwood Coach Rollie Massimino is every bit as charismatic at age 79 as he was 30 years ago when he led Villanova to the NCAA title. He's funny, he's insightful and the passion he has for the game is infectious. He tried to recruit Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery to Villanova in the 1970s and Massimino's son, Tommy, was McCaffery's college roommate at Penn. Tommy Massimino's son, Tommy Jr., is Iowa's administrative assistant and assistant video coordinator.

Rollie Massimino quipped after the game how much he'd like to have Iowa senior guard Kyle Denning on his team. Denning was placed on scholarship this summer after playing three years as a walk-on. Massimino said if Denning was on his team, 'he'd be a run-on.”

As for Iowa, Massimino effused nothing but praise.

'They're going to be involved in many, many, many wonderful games,” he said. 'I think they're terrific. They run. Our transition defense, we think is pretty good. We don't give up too many easy layups. We did tonight, two or three times.

'They take the ball out so quickly. (Aaron) White takes it out and goes, then No. 10 (Gesell) and No. 3 (Peter Jok) and that new point guard, the junior-college point guard (Dickerson), is a very good basketball player.

'They penetrate and dish and in first half they didn't make that penetration and dish. In the second half after they made that penetration, we helped and couldn't recover quick enough.”

Massimino has taken his team to eight consecutive NAIA tournaments after beginning the program from scratch. His talent and coaching is apparent and it wouldn't surprise me if Northwood could beat a majority of lower-level Division I teams.

'This could be, believe it or not, our best team,” Massimino said. 'Down the road this team has a chance to be really good.”

Extra Tip

Iowa has four scholarship seniors right now in forward Aaron White, guard Josh Oglesby, center Gabe Olaseni and guard Kyle Denning. Iowa has four commitments for next year: forward Brandon Hutton (6-6), forward Ahmad Wagner (6-7), shooting guard Andrew Fleming (6-5) and combo guard Isaiah Moss (6-5), who committed Sunday.

The Hawkeyes have one scholarship remaining for next season. Forward Cordell Pemsl, a junior at Dubuque Wahlert, suffered a knee injury last week and will miss significant time this season. Pemsl committed to Iowa in the spring and attended Sunday's game with his mother.

l Comments: (319) 339-3169; scott.dochterman@thegazette.com