Hawkeyes Dealing with Health Concerns

Iowa’s frontcourt depth may shift again this week heading into Wednesday’s home game with Maryland.

Patrick McCaffery, who has missed the last two games with an injured ankle, might be available, coach Fran McCaffery said on Monday. Ladji Dembele, who was injured in Saturday’s game against Purdue, is doubtful.

Still, Fran McCaffery said, he has a lot of options. Center Even Brauns, who has played just 50 minutes in 13 games this season, could see more playing time off the bench. Or McCaffery could shift Payton Sandfort into more of a frontcourt role and play Pryce Sandfort, Payton’s brother, more at the ‘2’ or the ‘3’. And McCaffery even suggested using Carter Kingsbury, a walk-on guard who has played five games this season, as a possible alternative.

Whatever he decides, McCaffery wants to make sure his two injured forwards will be completely ready before they come back.

“We’re not going to rush them,” McCaffery said. “We need them.”

Patrick McCaffery was out of his walking boot for Saturday’s game.

“It’s been tough on him,” said Fran McCaffery, Patrick’s father. “And he’s really anxious. But you have to be mature enough to say, ‘OK, I'm not going to be effective.’ I mean, he probably could have been out there (on Saturday). A few minutes here, a few minutes there, but we've got other guys, when they're 100 percent, they need to be out there and not him.”

Dembele, a freshman, had his minutes increase with Patrick’s absence. McCaffery said he had made progress in recent weeks.

“No question defensively, and on the glass in particular,” McCaffery said. “The thing I like about him is he shoots the ball. He’s not afraid to shoot — he pulls from three, he pulls from 15 feet. He’s aggressive offensively, and I want him to keep being that way.”

FREEMAN’S ABSENCE: McCaffery said freshman center Owen Freeman would not be at practice on Monday because he was with his family after the death of his grandmother over the weekend.

It’s the second time this season the Hawkeyes have had a death of a family member — the grandmother of guard Tony Perkins died in early December.

“And the important thing is that Tony knows, that Owen knows, that everybody in that locker room loves them,” McCaffery said. “I told (Freeman’s) mom we're going to put our arms around him and love him up, and his teammates, to a man, and the coaches, to a man, have done that for him.

“I think what's most important is we sometimes get locked into one thing — wins and losses. It's a family in that locker room. It's a journey. A lot of hard work, ups and downs. And how you deal with that is many times going to be a function of the support that you get from your teammates and your coaches. And we'll continue to do it the way we've done it.”

COURT STORMS: McCaffery was asked about the safety of players on the court after games after a court-storming incident in Iowa’s women’s basketball loss at Ohio State, when Iowa guard Caitlin Clark was knocked down by a fan coming onto the court at the end of the game.

“It was funny, we were talking last week about how we have to move the students close to the court,” McCaffery said. “What do you think they’re going to do? Big win, you think they’re going to sit there? They’re going to run on the floor.”

McCaffery remembered when his sons ran on the field at Kinnick Stadium after an Iowa football win.

It’s always, ‘Everybody loves it, everybody thinks it’s wonderful,’” McCaffery said. “Think back, we used to tear the goal post down. Until somebody got hit in the head, then it wasn’t such a good idea.”

McCaffery said it’s unrealistic to think security can keep fans off the court.

McCaffery said it was “unfortunate” what happened to Clark, who said after the game she was OK.

“She's as tough as they come, we know that,” McCaffery said. “And she’ll probably (score) 45 In the next game.”