Iowa Basketball: Mike Gesell is the Newest Member of the 1,000 Point Club
By Dylan Burn
Iowa Basketball senior point guard, Mike Gesell, eclipsed the 1,000 point mark for his career on Thursday night when the Hawkeyes fell to the Indiana Hoosiers in Bloomington, IN.
When Mike Gesell signed his letter of intent to play basketball at the University of Iowa back on August 8th, 2011, Iowa was putting together one of it’s best recruiting classes in recent memory. With Adam Woodbury getting close to a commitment, he and Gesell would give Iowa two ESPN top 100 players. It’s fairly rare that Iowa gets one ESPN top 100 player in a recruiting class, let alone two.
Well, here we are four years later and Mike Gesell is the latest Hawkeye to reach 1,000 career points. Gesell got the monkey off his back early in the game Thursday night when he recorded a layup that gave Iowa a 6-5 lead. He wasn’t done there either as he finished the game with 17 points, which is tied for his third highest output of the season.
Let’s catch a look at that easy layup that netted Mike his 1,000 points.
He is really give Iowa all it needs at the point guard spot. He is a four year starter, which is always a plus, and he has such a high basketball IQ that he rarely turns the ball over, which explains why he is ranked second in the Big Ten in assist to turnover ratio (2.8).
He is also averaging a career best in assists per game with 6, that is good for third in the Big Ten. Not only is it a career best, but it’s two better than last years mark, which was four. Along with the assists, he’s currently tied for fifth in the conference in steals per game, averaging 1.3.
He was a big part of Iowa’s first three conference games of the year. The upset over then first ranked Michigan State, the comeback win over Purdue on the road, and the trouncing of Nebraska. He scored a career high 25 points against Michigan State, recorded a slash line of 7/7/7 against Purdue, and tallied a double double against the Cornhuskers. He was instrumental in Iowa’s hot start to Big Ten play.
He’s never been a real flashy player, but I’ve seen significant improvement in a couple different aspects of his game this year. One, he defends the ball better. It seems like he is keep everyone in front of him and you can credit that to his quick feet. Two, his decision making has improved significantly, which again goes back to the assist to turnover ratio.
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One thing that’ll need to improve before the end of the year is his free throw shooting, especially late in games. He is a guy that Iowa has to have on the floor late because of his ball handling and decision making, but if he can’t make his free throws, he can’t be on the floor.
It’s going to be a little sad watching Mike play his last games as a Hawkeye, but these guys still have a lot left to play for. With a potential Big Ten title on the line, Iowa will need to be sharp these last six games to at least catch a split of the conference title.
Gesell and Iowa will be back in action on Sunday against the Minnesota Golden Gophers inside Carver Hawkeye Arena. That game is set to tip off at 6:30 p.m. CT.
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