Iowa Basketball: Mike Gesell Season Review

Over the next couple weeks, Dear Old Gold will be presenting player reviews from the members of the 2015-16 Iowa Hawkeyes basketball team. We have already given reviews to Ahmad Wagner and **Anthony Clemmons. Today, we take a look back at Mike Gesell**.

Mike Gesell #10
Senior Guard
Season Stats: 33 GP, 8.1 PPG, 6.2 APG, 3.2 RPG

After four years and 134 starts in an Iowa Hawkeye uniform, the career of Mike Gesell came to a close this past season. Gesell once again maintained his role as the starting point guard for the Hawkeyes, and was effective. Gesell put up career-highs in minutes, rebounds, and assists per game.

Much like the previous three seasons, Gesell primarily scored between six and ten points per game, but would also have the occasional breakout performance. Early on in conference play this season, Gesell was scoring at a tremendous clip. Gesell put in 25 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the home victory over Michigan State.

He stepped up in the first half when Jarrod Uthoff went to the bench in foul trouble. Two days later, he posted a double-double, scoring 22 points and dishing out 10 assists. While his scoring took a significant dip over the last 15 games, he was always having an impact on the game.

He had seven or more assists in 15 of the teams 33 games this season, and had five or more assists in 22 of the 33 contests. He has always taken great care of the basketball, and while the assists numbers were slightly elevated this season, Gesell still averaged only 2.0 turnovers per game in 30 minutes, good for a 3:1 assist to turnover ratio. He shot a career-high 35% from 3-point range, however he also shot a career-low 46 attempts.

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He was the subject to a lot of criticism from the Iowa fan base, primarily for his lack of clutch play. While it is true that Gesell missed shots and turned the ball over down the stretch in losses against Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Illinois, it is unfair to pin all of the blame on Gesell, as many fans did. The team as a whole, largely failed in those situations. Most of the time, the offense was stagnant, and Gesell was forced to take a wild shot at the end of the shot clock.

Throughout his career, Mike Gesell was also plagued by poor free-throw shooting. Much like his backcourt mate Anthony Clemmons, Gesell especially struggled late in games.

However, this season was different. Gesell knocked down two clutch free-throws late in the loss at Iowa State, hit a plethora of free-throws in home wins against Michigan State and Nebraska (11-13 in both games), and also finished the season making 23 of his final 26 free-throw attempts after missing the front of a 1-and-1 late in the loss at Maryland .

He was a very polarizing figure in his time at the University of Iowa. He was part of the recruiting class that included Adam Woodbury and Anthony Clemmons, which helped put Iowa basketball back on the map. And his role in that should not be forgotten.

Next: Class of 2017 Continues to Grow

After somewhat disappointing sophomore and junior seasons, Gesell was better this season. He was never quite the scorer Iowa fans hoped he would be, but his performance in other aspects of the game earn him a B-minus grade for his senior season

Final Grade: B-

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Over the next couple weeks, Dear Old Gold will be presenting player reviews from the members of the 2015-16 Iowa Hawkeyes basketball team. We have already given reviews to Ahmad Wagner and Anthony Clemmons. Today, we take a look back at Mike Gesell.

More from Dear Old Gold

Over the next couple weeks, Dear Old Gold will be presenting player reviews from the members of the 2015-16 Iowa Hawkeyes basketball team. We have already given reviews to Ahmad Wagner and **Anthony Clemmons. Today, we take a look back at Mike Gesell**.