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Iowa basketball: Jack Nunge to redshirt in sophomore season

By Andrew Wade

COLUMBUS, OH - FEBRUARY 10: C.J. Jackson #3 of the Ohio State Buckeyes is defended by Jack Nunge #2 of the Iowa Hawkeyes during the game at Value City Arena on February 10, 2018 in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State defeated Iowa 82-64. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OH - FEBRUARY 10: C.J. Jackson #3 of the Ohio State Buckeyes is defended by Jack Nunge #2 of the Iowa Hawkeyes during the game at Value City Arena on February 10, 2018 in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State defeated Iowa 82-64. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images) /
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In a somewhat surprising decision, the Iowa basketball program has announced that sophomore Jack Nunge will redshirt during the 2018-2019 season.

The Iowa basketball team is set to face the UMKC Kangaroos tonight in their first game of the regular season, and a little over an hour before tipoff, it was announced that sophomore post player Jack Nunge will be redshirting this season.

As we covered on our roster preview, Nunge was expected to play key minutes for the Iowa basketball program.

After making 14 starts last year and averaging 15.7 minutes per game during his freshman year, the 6’11” Nunge was supposed to be a key player off the bench. Instead, we will be waiting until next season to see the former Mr. Indiana Basketball Player of the Year finalist suit up for the black and gold.

The breaking news came courtesy of The Athletic journalist Scott Dochterman in a tweet a few moments ago.

Going forward, as Scott alluded to, this should help Fran McCaffrey disperse minutes a little easier with the arrival of four-star recruit Joe Weiskamp and the return of Connor McCaffrey who was redshirted last year after dealing with illness and injuries that left him out of the lineup for much of the season. Furthermore, with only two players, who were low-minute reserves, leaving the team from last year (Brady Ellingson and Ahmad Wagner), the roster and playing time was getting quite crowded real quick.

This long-term move will benefit both Nunge and the Iowa basketball team, although it may take another season after this. The only expected departure from this year’s team is senior Nicholas Baer (unless of course Tyler Cook flirts with the NBA again) before five juniors depart the following season.

With two highly-touted class of 2019 recruits in Pat McCaffrey (four-star) and Joe Toussaint (three-star) coming in next season, the Iowa basketball team may just be delaying the inevitable or figuring one of the bench players may decide to transfer.