Iowa Basketball: 2020-21 season preview for the Hawkeyes
Starters
Success for the Hawkeyes begins – and resumes from last season – with their starting lineup. Thankfully, for the Hawkeyes, the projected five here were overwhelmingly responsible for their high offensive output last season, averaging a combined 63.1 points last year.
Four of these positions are foregone conclusions. The only question mark arises at the point guard position, which was handled by Jordan Bohannon for the first half of the season before a hip injury in December sidelined him. Freshman Joe Toussaint took over for the remainder of the season and did well in that capacity, averaging 6.5 ppg and 2.9 apg.
After being cleared for basketball activities back in July, however, Bohannon should resume floor general duties for his final season. The school record holder in career three-pointers (284) and sixth-most in program history in assists (504), Bohannon averaged 8.8 ppg and 3.3 apg in 10 games last season, his most notable display coming in a 20-point performance against Texas Tech.
The best three-point shooter in the Big Ten last year, CJ Fredrick will return to the shooting guard position after a stellar freshman display in 2019-20. An All-Big Ten Freshman selection, Fredrick shot 46.1% (47-102) en route to averaging 10.2 ppg and 2.9 apg.
Fredrick recorded a season-high 21 points three times (Cal Poly, Cincinnati, and Michigan), and is just one of three players since 1993 to tally over 65 assists and less than 32 turnovers while shooting 46% (or better) from beyond the arc. He dished out five assists in six different games last season.
Connor McCaffery – who played four different positions last year – will return at small forward after leading all of Div. I last season in assist-to-turnover ratio at 4.6 (124 assists to 27 turnovers). Despite averaging the last amount of points among the starters last season (6.2 ppg), McCaffery made it up in every other way possible.
McCaffery posted a single-season high 124 assists last year to go with 124 rebounds and 35 assists. Like Fredrick, McCaffery also has a notable post-1993 stat, being the only Div. I player since then to register a single-season stat-line of 175+ points, 120+ assists, 120+ rebounds, 25+ steals, and 27 or fewer turnovers.
Joe Wieskamp dominated at power forward last year, earning an All-Big Ten Third Team nod after posting 14.0 ppg and 6.1 rpg averages. Ranking second on the team in both categories, Wieskamp was first in the Big Ten in free throw accuracy (.856) and posted three double-doubles against Penn State, Maryland, and Wisconsin. Expectations are high for Wieskamp this season, having been named to the preseason All-Big Ten Team.
Rounding out the starting five – obviously – is Luka Garza. There is not much to be said about Garza that is not already known. He is the first player in program history to earn National Player of the Year honors and currently holds the single-season scoring record at Iowa with 740 points last year.
Garza nearly averaged a double-double in 2019-20, registering 23.9 ppg and 9.8 rpg throughout the course of the season. In Big Ten play, Garza was the first player since Glenn Robinson in 1994 to average at least 26 points and is just one of three players in conference history to record 740+ points and 300+ rebounds in a single season.
With Obi Toppin gone from Dayton, Garza will enter the season as the best player in college basketball and will continue to dominate as the premier player for the Hawkeyes. Garza led Iowa in scoring 22 times last season – his most notable being a 44-point showcase against Michigan.