In the two weeks since the Hawkeyes last played, Lickliter has seen better health and better cohesion help Iowa move beyond its most recent game, a five-point loss to Drake.
“I like the idea that we are moving beyond some of the problems we’ve been having with some of the basics,” Lickliter said. “We’re at a point where we can talk more about the next concept and move forward.”
Injured guards Tony Freeman and Jeff Peterson have moved forward too.
Freeman continues to make progress as he recovers from a foot injury that sidelined him for 10 of Iowa’s first 12 games. The sprained thumb that forced Peterson to wrap his shooting hand for the Hawkeyes’ last nine games also is healing.
“I don’t know that either of them is quite at 100 percent yet, but they’re both quite a bit further along than they were,” Lickliter said.
“Tony is becoming more comfortable every day. He’s hanging in there, and it may just be working through the idea of dealing with a little pain. For Jeff, it’s that he hasn’t gotten his thumb hit for the last week and a half. For awhile, it seemed like he was getting it bumped about every day. That hasn’t happened lately, and it’s allowing him to heal.”
Time also has allowed the Hawkeyes to heal collectively from the 56-51 loss to Drake.
Several Iowa players talked about the need to do some soul-searching after the defeat dropped Iowa to 6-6 with only Saturday’s home game at 8 p.m. against Southeastern Louisiana remaining before next Wednesday’s Big Ten opener against Indiana.
Lickliter sees improvement.
“We’re trying to get guys not to play toward the things that have gotten us in trouble and play more toward the strengths of our team,” Lickliter said.
“One of the things we’ve been trying to stress is for the guys to know their teammates and put them in a good position. When we throw the ball, we want it to be thrown to a position where we can be successful. Our spacing has not been good and our guys are starting to understand where they should be.”
After watching his team not attempt a single free throw in the Drake loss, the need to take a more aggressive approach offensively has been among the topics Lickliter has addressed with his team.
Team defense has also been heavily emphasized in recent practices.
“It’s been a good couple of weeks and I feel like we’ve made some strides. We needed for that to happen,” Lickliter said.
Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com.
