Scoring in Bunches

Nov. 16, 2011

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — Points are coming in bunches for the University of Iowa men’s basketball team early in the 2011-12 season.

The Hawkeyes scored 96 points in the season-opening victory over Chicago State. They followed it up with 95 points in Monday’s 95-79 win over North Carolina A&T. It is the first time the Hawkeyes have scored more than 90 points in back-to-back contests since Dec. 2006.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to continue doing that,” said UI head coach Fran McCaffery on a media teleconference Wednesday. “We have good players, guys that know how to score.

“The thing that has been most impressive is we’re sharing the ball. We’re a very unselfish team. If you’re going to be a scoring team, you have to have the scorer’s mentality, but you have to have the ability to understand to give the ball up.”

Iowa had 22 assists on 30 field goals against Chicago State and 20 assists on 33 makes against North Carolina A&T.

The Hawkeyes have been letting them fly from 3-point range, making 18 long balls in the two victories. They are the most for the team to start a season since 1994-95.

“We have some good shooters, and I am not opposed to that,” said McCaffery. “As the season goes on we may be more of a 3-point shooting team than we were last year. I said at the beginning, we have a better 3-point shooting team.

“We have some players that can do it. The critical thing is whether it is a three or two, you shoot when you’re open.”

Iowa is all in with the full-court press, but not 100 percent of the time.

“We’re all in in a sense that we’re going to do it every game, but not to the point where we’re going to commit to it on every possession on every chance we get,” said McCaffery. “I am not there yet. I feel like we have the team that can do it.

“They like playing that way — I feel like it gets our offense going. We’re going to do it a lot.”

Senior Andrew Brommer’s status after restraining his injured knee is still up in the air. The center made his season debut against Chicago State on Monday night.

“I would say he’s doubtful, but not out of the question,” said McCaffery. “It will legitimately be a game-time decision. The good news is it’s not as bad as the one before. The bad news is it’s the third time he’s had it hurt in the last 6-7 months. We’re going to be a little careful on this one.”

McCaffery agreed with the statement that the Hawkeyes look more comfortable as a collective group in the second year of his system.

“I felt that was going to be the case,” said McCaffery. “We have to see if that remains the case over time, particularly when we get into some games that are on the road against ranked opponents.”

Iowa returns to action tomorrow night hosting Northern Illinois at 7 p.m. on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Fans looking for a bargain on tickets should click HERE.