Iowa opened up the season by defeating Lipscomb 76-54 on Monday night. It was nowhere near pretty for the full forty minutes, but there were some serious flashes of this team’s potential.

Jaidyn Coon Makes an Immediate Impact

Let’s take a deeper dive into the win by highlighting the obvious. Freshman Jaidyn Coon was the best player on the floor in his first game as a Hawkeye.

Coon tallied 12 points and 6 rebounds. However, his impact on the floor went far beyond the numbers. To start, he did a great job guarding Oregon transfer Takai Simpkins, who gave other Hawkeyes fits throughout the game. The stat that I look at the most is that Jaidyn Coon only had one foul. Iowa had a hard time all game pressuring the ball without fouling, but Coon was able to not only make life very difficult for Lipscomb’s ball handlers, but also do so without fouling.

In the exhibition game vs. Illinois-Springfield, we saw Jaidyn getting a little too physical defensively and picking up unnecessary fouls, but tonight was just a complete improvement defensively.

Offensively, Coon was impactful as well. I don’t know if I have ever seen a player who looks for opportunities to cut more than Jaidyn Coon, and it is going to lead to so many easy baskets for him throughout the season.

In Coach McCollum’s system, we constantly see players trying to get to the middle of the floor and become a playmaker for others. Whether it is a big man getting hit on a slip at the foul line or a guard attacking downhill, when the ball gets to that point, it opens up a perfect opportunity for a baseline cut.

We were able to see Tate Sage get a ton of good looks from it last season. Now, when you add in a willing cutter like Jaidyn Coon, and then you add in that he is 6’6″ with a 40-plus-inch vertical, it becomes a weapon offensively and is going to make for some insane highlights for Jaidyn Coon this season. I can’t wait to see Jaidyn Coon blow the roof off of Carver-Hawkeye Arena this year.

Iowa was without Andrew McKeever, so there was an extra need for rebounding last night. Jaidyn Coon absolutely provided that. He did an excellent job crashing the glass and was able to get himself those six rebounds. Every one of them was earned, and he was even able to get himself an easy putback score off of an offensive rebound.

Overall, he played like an upperclassman in his first college basketball game, and I was very impressed by Coon.

The Offense Is Taking Shape Without Bennett Stirtz

We are starting to see the offense take shape without Bennett Stirtz. Ben McCollum is an offensive mastermind, and I felt that was on full display once again tonight. The offense looked very similar to last season. The only big difference, obviously, is that Bennett Stirtz was not the guy involved in every action.

This time around, we saw Tate Sage, Cooper Koch, Ty’Reek Coleman, Kael Combs, and Isaia Howard involved in most of the DHOs and ball screens. Ben McCollum does such a good job of creating advantages for his offense, which is part of why he has had such impressive guard play throughout the years.

This season is just a little different because now you aren’t going to have such a primary scorer in those actions, but that is okay for now. As long as someone establishes themselves throughout a game as the guy in crunch time, Iowa should be fine.

I thought Iowa’s offense last night was able to generate a solid amount of high-percentage looks that just didn’t fall. So, only scoring 76 points against Lipscomb should not be something to worry about.

The Rotation Is Starting to Take Shape

The rotation seems to be taking shape. Obviously, with no McKeever last night, things are going to operate slightly differently, but we can essentially see what it’s going to look like rotation-wise.

The starting lineup will be Kael Combs, Isaia Howard, Tate Sage, Cooper Koch, and Andrew McKeever. That lineup is a perfect balance of shooting, which is going to create a ton of space, complemented by length and defensive tenacity.

Off the bench, you’re going to see Ty’Reek Coleman and Payton McCollum in the backcourt with Cam Manyawu, Jaidyn Coon, and Trevin Jirak in the frontcourt. That gets you ten deep, with the option to plug in Joey Matteoni. It looks like, as of right now, that is as far as he will go.

I, as well as many other fans, am very disappointed to not see Trey Thompson in the rotation quite yet because we know the potential that his game has. At 6’8″ with the ability to shoot and his athleticism, you would certainly believe he would be a rotational piece for this group, but we have yet to see that.

As far as Payton McCollum goes, it looks like we are going to see him play a good amount this year. So far, it definitely looks like he belongs out there. He is a willing shooter, a high-IQ player, and guards really well. He could certainly play that Sam Hoiberg role that Sam played at Nebraska and be a valuable piece to the puzzle.

Final Thoughts

Overall, there is plenty to be encouraged about after Iowa’s season-opening win. Jaidyn Coon showed just how much potential he has, the offense is beginning to find its identity without Bennett Stirtz, and the rotation is starting to become clearer. There is still plenty of room for improvement, but this team showed some promising signs of what it could become as the season moves forward.