Men's Hoops to Entertain Gardner-Webb Saturday Night

Nov. 16, 2012

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Iowa Game Notes

THE SETTING
Iowa will play its fourth game in nine days when it hosts Gardner-Webb on Saturday. Tip-off is slated for 7:07 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Saturday’s game is a Cancun Challenge preliminary game. Tickets are $14 for adults, and $5 for youths and UI students. Trading cards will be available for the first 1,000 fans.

GAME #4 QUICK HITS
? Saturday is the second of two Cancun Challenge preliminary games.
? Iowa has started the year 3-0 for the second straight season.
? Iowa has won eight of its last nine home games, dating back to Feb. 1.
? Iowa won its first three games by an average of 24.3 points.
? Roy Devyn Marble scored 15 of his season-high 22 points in the first half Thursday against Howard. It marked the third time in his career the junior reached the 20-point plateau.
? Aaron White leads the team in rebounding (7.3), steals (1.7) and free throws made (20) and attempted (26), and is second in scoring (15.3).
? Saturday will be Iowa’s final home game until Dec. 1 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
? This marks the second time in three years under Fran McCaffery that the Hawkeye head coach has started two freshmen in the season opener (Basabe and McCabe in 2010).
? Iowa is 10-2 when scoring 80 points or more, the last three seasons. The Hawkeyes are 16-0 when holding opponents to fewer than 60 points, the last two years.
? Iowa’s average starting lineup height is 6-foot-6. The Hawkeye starting lineup consists of two freshmen, one sophomore, and two juniors.

ON THE AIR
Radio: Iowa games are broadcast on the Hawkeye Radio Network. Gary Dolphin handles the play-by-play, along with color commentator Bob Hansen. The network includes more than 40 stations that blanket the state of Iowa and include portions of Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. The Hawkeye Radio Network coverage includes a 60-minute pregame show.
Television: Saturday’s game will be televised in the state of Iowa on Mediacom’s MC22 channel. Rob Brooks and Mac McCausland will call the action. Fans can also access the game online on hawkeyesports.com via the BTN Digital Network. Hawkeye All-Access subscribers can watch live video streams of UI events on the BTN Digital Network at no extra charge. Fans can also access the game via video.BTN.com.

SEASON TICKETS AND MINI PACKAGES ON SALE
Hawkeye fans can purchase a season ticket for $320. UI Faculty and staff can purchase tickets for $270, while the price is only $80 for UI students. There are also two mini-season ticket packages. There is a six-game weekday package ($120) and a six-game weekend package ($125). Single-game tickets to home non-conference games are also on sale. Fans can purchase tickets at the UI Ticket Office, calling 1-800-IAHAWKS or online at hawkeyesports.com.

HAWKEYES POST 30-POINT WIN OVER HOWARD
? Iowa beat Howard, 66-36, Thursday night on Mediacom Court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The 36 points are the fewest an Iowa opponent has scored since a 61-36 win over Bryant on Dec. 5, 2008.
? The Hawkeyes doubled-up the Bison in paint points (32-16). Iowa also outscored Howard, 12-0, in fast break points.
? Iowa outrebounded the Bison by 13 (43-30) and outscored the visitors by 13 at the foul line (18-5), bolstered by Aaron White’s 10-of-11 performance at the charity stripe.
? Senior captain Eric May scored a season-high eight points off the bench.

HAWKEYE FASTBREAKS
? Fran McCaffery has coached in 497 career games (283-214, .569).
? The Hawkeyes have played 10 players or more in each of the first three games.
? Aaron White is attacking the rim averaging a team-best 8.7 free-throw attempts per game. He is averaging 6.7 free-throw makes per outing.
? Iowa has made (49) more free throws than its opponents have attempted (41), which is a staple of Fran McCaffery-coached teams.
? Freshman point guard Mike Gesell leads the team in assists (4.7) and shares the team lead in 3-pointers made (1.7).
? Freshmen guards Mike Gesell and Anthony Clemmons have accounted for eight of Iowa’s 18 triples.
? Freshman center Adam Woodbury has missed only four field goal attempts (7-of-11, .636). He is also averaging 4.7 boards per contest.
? Iowa blocked 10 shots vs. UT-Pan American on Friday, the most by an Iowa team since Nov. 14, 2005 (Md.-Eastern Shore).

NUMBER OF THE WEEK — 3
Three of Iowa’s starters are from the Sioux City area. Junior Zach McCabe and freshman Adam Woodbury hail from Sioux City, Iowa, while freshman Mike Gesell is a native of South Sioux City, Neb. Gesell celebrated his 19th birthday on Nov. 9, the season opener.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Saturday will be the first meeting between Iowa and Gardner-Webb. The Hawkeyes are 3-1 all-time against current teams in the Big South, beating Charleston Southern, Liberty and UNC Asheville, but falling to Campbell last year.

SCOUTING GARDNER-WEBB
? Gardner-Webb lost 66-62 at home to Lipscomb on Wednesday, then flew to Chicago on Thursday morning and won at DePaul (71-59) the same night.
? Saturday will be Gardner-Webb’s third game in four days.
? Gardner-Webb outrebounded the Blue Demons by 13 (44-31). Kevin Hartley paced the Runnin’ Bulldogs with a double-double (16 points and 12 rebounds). Max Landis poured in a game-high 20 points to go along with three steals and four assists.
? The Runnin’ Bulldogs will be without two of its starters, center Mike Byron and guard Tashan Newsome. Byron is expected to miss between 3-4 weeks after suffering an injury in the first half against Covenant (Ga.) College last Saturday. Newsome suffered a back injury, and the all-conference guard is not expected to return to the court in the immediate future.
? Guard Max Landis leads the team in scoring (14.5), while wing player Donta Harper ranks second in scoring (11.0). Kevin Hartley ranks first on the squad in rebounding (7.5).

MARKED IMPROVEMENT IN YEAR TWO
Fran McCaffery guided Iowa to 18 wins (18-17) in his second season as head coach of the Hawkeyes, with four of the 18 victories coming against top 20 opponents. McCaffery was one of only four Big Ten coaches to record four or more wins over ranked opponents, and the only coach to do so with an unranked team. McCaffery’s seven-win improvement in his second season, ties Pops Harrison (1943-44) for the fourth best improvement following his second year as Iowa head coach. Steve Alford (2000-01) and Lute Olsen (1975-76) rank first (+9), while George Raveling (1984-85) is third (+8). Furthermore, the seven-win improvement ranked third-best in the Big Ten in 2012 behind Indiana (+12) and Michigan State (+10). Iowa improved by four wins in conference play from 2011 (four) to 2012 (eight), its best improvement since 1994-95. Tom Davis’ 1994 team won five, while his 1995 squad collected nine victories.

IOWA HISTORY
Iowa has played 2,662 games since beginning basketball in 1902. Iowa’s overall record is 1,598-1,064 (.600). That includes a 959-353 (.731) record in home games, a 549-721 (.432) record in contests away from Iowa City, a 711-728 (.494) mark in Big Ten games and a 365-117 (.757) record in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

WHITE, WOODBURY RECEIVE PRESEASON RECOGNITION
Sophomore Aaron White has been named preseason third team All-Big Ten by the website College Sports Madness, while Adam Woodbury was named by CBSSports.com as a top 30 freshman to make an impact. White, who was named to the 2012 Kyle Macy Freshman All-America team, averaged 11.1 points and a team-best 5.7 rebounds a year ago. White’s 389 points rank as the fifth-most by a Hawkeye freshman, while his 199 rebounds rank fourth and 23 blocks rank eighth. Woodbury, is a three-time All-State honoree, and was tabbed MVP of the NBA Top 100 Camp in 2011. The 7-foot-1 center topped 1,000 career points and rebounds in his prep career for Sioux City East High School.

COACHING EXPERIENCE
Fran McCaffery has assembled one of the most experienced coaching staffs in the country. Assistant coaches Kirk Speraw, Sherman Dillard and Andrew Francis have over six decades of combined coaching experience. Furthermore, the entire coaching staff combines for 48 years of head coaching experience. Director of Basketball Operations Jerry Strom is in his 32nd season as a member of the Iowa basketball staff. Additionally, Iowa’s video coordinator, Al Seibert, has 18 years of collegiate coaching experience.

WELCOME FRESHMEN
Iowa welcomes five newcomers to the fold for 2012-13. The newest Hawkeyes include guards Anthony Clemmons, Pat Ingram and Mike Gesell; forward Kyle Meyer and center Adam Woodbury. The class ranks 25th in the nation by ESPN.com.

HAWKEYEBASKETBALL.COM
Check out the Iowa basketball team’s new website, HawkeyeBasketball.com, devoted to everything on-and-off-the-court surrounding the program. HawkeyeBasketball.com, allows fans a chance to go behind the scenes with the Hawkeye basketball program on and off the court. The site is complete with exclusive videos, photo galleries and content featuring the basketball program. HawkeyeBasketball.com will be updated throughout the year with exclusive videos, including and game highlights, along with news stories and other content.

HY-VEE BIG 4 CLASSIC TICKETS ON SALE
The state of Iowa’s four NCAA Division I institutions will host the inaugural Hy-Vee Big Four Classic, a men’s college basketball doubleheader at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines Dec. 15. Tickets, priced at $25, $50 and $70, can be purchased at dahlstickets.com, the Wells Fargo Arena Ticket Office, all Dahl’s Foods Locations and by calling 866-55-DAHLS.

ON THE HORIZON
Iowa will depart for Mexico on Sunday morning for the Cancun Challenge. The Hawkeyes will play Western Kentucky on Tuesday (8:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network) and will play either DePaul or Wichita State on Wednesday (6 or 8:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network).