Fran McCaffery details value of getting freshmen involved in rotation

Ten players saw the court for Iowa in the Hawkeyes’ 88-86 upset win over No. 20 Wisconsin on Saturday. Four of those ten players were true freshmen. After the game, Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery revealed how his trust in his freshmen has grown over the season.

“From the beginning, I felt comfortable with those guys,” McCaffery said. “There were some stretches where I didn’t play them as much, went with our veteran guys. I really don’t want to do that necessarily. I want to play all those young guys.”

Iowa’s four freshmen combined for 28 points in the win. Brock Harding scored six points in the triumph. For reference, Harding is only averaging 3.3 points per game this season. The performance was a massive leap in the right direction for the first-year Hawkeye, and it didn’t go unnoticed.

“You see what Brock’s capable of, and I think Pryce [Sandfort] is really making great strides. Ladji [Dembele] was really good today in stretches. I felt bad I didn’t give Dasonte [Bowen] a shot today with those other guys. But, I feel good about our young guys,” McCaffery said.

Iowa’s top freshman steals the show

While Harding did his part, Owen Freeman stole the show. The 6-foot-10 freshman exploded for a team-high 20 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and four blocks while shooting a perfect 6-6 from the field. Freeman is the only freshman starting for Iowa this season.

In 22 minutes per game, Freeman averages 11 points and 6.6 rebounds per contest on a team-high 64.4% shooting. On Monday, Freeman was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week. He has hauled in the honor in back-to-back weeks and nine times overall.

“He’s a beast,” Iowa senior guard Tony Perkins said after the team’s win over Wisconsin. “I told him every time he’d get fouled, get a rebound or get a bucket, ‘You are a beast. Act like it’. That’s the type of player he is. He goes for the ball, he can score, hit free throws, dunk on somebody — he works hard. He’s also got me here that’s here to tell him how good of a player he is. He’s a beast.”

Perkins wasn’t the only one with praise for Freeman after the standout showing.

“I’ve been saying from the beginning that the thing that makes him unique is that he has a bag,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. “A lot of times you don’t expect that from your 6’10” center. I’ve been encouraging him all year to be that guy — attack in the open floor, spin, shot-fake, rip and drive. I think the next phase in his game is that he’ll be shooting pull-up jumpers out of that.”

“His ability to affect the game at both ends — that’s how we won. He was blocking shots, he’s rebounding the ball, starting our break, giving others an opportunity to make plays and he did it today staying out of foul trouble, so he’s learning.”