Iowa Basketball: Ryan Kriener Deserves To Be In Rotation

Ryan Kriener has stepped up in the past two games and deserves to see consistent playing time

Outside of Nicholas Baer, Iowa basketball has searched for answers off the bench. Junior Dom Uhl has not found his footing this season after struggling down the stretch last year, and Ahmad Wagner is quickly falling out of the rotation after falling out of the starting lineup.

Although, considering how much Iowa relies on their four freshmen starters this season, it’s fitting that Ryan Kriener stepped up for the Hawkeyes in the past two games.

Kriener, a 6-9 freshman forward, recorded 30 minutes in Iowa’s last two games against Purdue and Northwestern after not playing in Iowa’s previous three games. For most of the season, Kriener has been part of the end of the bench and only went in during blowouts, but that might change with the way he played last week.

In 30 minutes, Kriener recorded 20 points and four rebounds on 9-of-11 shooting, including the first made three of his career. In fact, Kriener set a career-high of 14 points in a career-high 22 minutes against Northwestern on Sunday night.

Plus, he’s given Iowa momentum on offense when he enters. Kriener is a sub-par rebounder and defender, especially for his size, but he could be Iowa’s solution to their lack of bench scoring.

Against Purdue, Iowa went on a quick 8-4 run in less than two minutes with Kriener recording six points and a rebound in that stretch. Then against Northwestern, Kriener scored six points in 1:52 of game time during the first half and five points in 1:12 during the second half.

Part of his immediate success is teams simply didn’t game plan for him like they do with bench players like Wagner and Baer. Still, his pick-and-roll/pop ability with Jordan Bohannon has quickly made him arguably Iowa’s most versatile offensive big man.

Kriener is clearly inferior in the paint compared to the likes of Tyler Cook or Cordell Pemsl, but his 63.6 field goal percentage is telling of his ability to stretch the floor. It doesn’t extend all the way to the three-point line, at least not consistently yet, but teams have to respect his mid-range game. Eight of his 11 shot attempts in the past two games were jump shots.

As a result, Bohannon and Kriener look significantly better running a pick-and-pop than Bohannon and Pemsl or Cook. Defenses know Pemsl won’t shoot from outside of the paint, therefore they play off of him and Pemsl ends up passing, which kills the play.

It’s not to say that Kriener should start over Pemsl or even see 22 minutes like he did in Iowa’s blowout loss to Northwestern, but right now he’s a legitimate option off the bench.

Teams have willingly left him open and he’s not afraid to shoot. A big reason Iowa’s bench has struggled offensively this year is due to their timidness on that end of the floor.

For instance, teams often dare Dom Uhl to shoot and block him from driving, but he still rarely shoots from outside of the paint. The Hawkeyes don’t expect Uhl to become a three-point specialist, but he shot 45 percent from three on 1.8 attempts per game a season ago, so the ability to stretch the floor is there.

To be fair, he is only shooting 21.4 percent from deep this season, although his three-point attempts in conference play falling from 1.7 per game last year to 0.8 per game this year is a clear indication of his lack of confidence from deep.

In fact, Kriener and Baer lead the bench with 4.3 shot attempts per game. They don’t need to attempt 10 shots per game, but no one else on the bench is above three shots per game, and it has led to a stagnant offense during all-bench lineups.

It helps that Kriener shot 81.8 percent from the field last week, but his play also significantly helped the flow of the offense, which is why Iowa goes on runs when he subs in and simply looks better offensively.

Plus, Dom Uhl is nursing a thumb injury after he hurt himself on a missed dunk attempt against Purdue. Uhl hasn’t shown anything outside of his 10 points, eight rebounds and five blocks versus Rutgers, therefore Kriener could be a viable replacement in Iowa’s rotation.