As I mentioned in the spotlight highlighting Connor McCaffery, I was in attendance for the Dubuque Wahlert and Iowa City West game last Tuesday night featuring McCaffery, an Iowa Basketball commit, and Cordell Pemsl, another Iowa Basketball commit. I broke down McCaffery yesterday, now it’s Pemsl’s turn.
Pemsl’s Golden Eagles got the best of McCaffery’s Trojans in their first go around in Dubuque, but Pemsl and his team wouldn’t be as fortunate this time around. McCaffery’s 23 points paced the Trojans to a double digit win. In my eyes, that’s meaningless. I was there to get a look at how these players fit into the Black and Gold in the coming years.
Pemsl started rather slow, but most of that can be attributed to Tanner Lohaus’ tough defense. Lohaus spent most of the night fronting Pemsl and getting help from the weak side behind him. Whenever he got the ball, the Trojans were doubling him. He handled the pressure well, which was an encouraging sign. He rarely turned it over when the double teams came. It just took him a little while to get going.
Pemsl played the entire 32 minutes, scored 21 points, and snatched 10 rebounds by my unofficial count. Where he most impressed me was off the dribble. He has great body control and finished around the rim consistently off the dribble. I didn’t get a glimpse at a jump shot, but during warm ups he looked to have a pretty fluid jumper, which is something he’ll need in Big Ten play.
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The only negative thing I saw was; he struggled to finish around the rim in the post. So, posting up a defender or off an offensive rebound, he had trouble scoring. He missed four pretty easy shots that he’ll need to make in the coming years. This was the first time I got to see him play live, so it could’ve just been for that one night that he struggled a little bit.
Judging from his highlight tape, he does have that back to the basket game that I didn’t get to see much of because West was fronting him the whole night. He also has the ability to hurt you with his jumper, which is something I didn’t get to see live either.
Rivals has him rated as a three star prospect and courtside films labels him as Iowa’s top forward. This was a big get for Fran McCaffery considering in the past, Iowa has missed out on some of the top players from Iowa. Pemsl’s Golden Eagles could very well find themselves playing deep into the state tournament in Des Moines in mid-march. They are just a 3A school playing against 4A schools all year long, so that is an added benefit they have.
Next: Iowa vs. Indiana: Preview and Predictions
As far as playing time next year goes; I think Pemsl has a shot to play some. Iowa will be extremely thin at the five spot and both Tyler Cook and Pemsl may need to give Fran McCaffery some minutes there. At 6’8″ he is a little undersized, but at 235 pounds, his body is ready for the Big Ten.
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