Iowa Basketball: Hawkeyes lose offensive punch with Tyler Cook out three weeks

Without Tyler Cook for three straight weeks, Iowa basketball will have to rely on Peter Jok even more on offense.

The Iowa Hawkeyes lost both of their games in the Emerald Coast Classic this past weekend and they haven’t earned a quality win yet this year.

The downward turn from last season’s successfully campaign continues with a disappointing injury to freshman forward Tyler Cook. The four-star power forward will be out the next three weeks after fracturing a finger during a practice last week in Florida, according to the school.

“After discussions with Tyler and the medical staff, it was determined that surgery was the best treatment for Tyler in terms of proper healing and recovery time,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said in a statement. “We expect Tyler to make a full recovery and look forward to him rejoining his teammates on the court soon.”

This is disappointing news for the Hawkeyes, as Cook is the team’s second leading scorer (13.7 per game) and rebounder (5.3 per game). In addition to his early work on offense and on the glass, Cook is blocking 0.5 shots per game and has dished out a decent 1.3 assists per game.

While he is shooting only 17 percent from downtown and is turning the ball over three times a game, Iowa doesn’t currently have the production and balance to make up for Cook’s loss. Iowa has two players averaging in double figures, Cook and Peter Jok, and they don’t have a player averaging more than six rebounds a game.

This also puts even more weight on Jok’s shoulders. The senior guard is averaging 25.3 points and will basically have to carry the entire offensive load with Cook out.

Nicholas Baer, Brady Ellingson, Dom Uhl and Cordell Pemsl are recording between six and seven points a night, but no one has taken a step forward to help manufacture points next to Jok.

Without Cook, Iowa could be in deep trouble in their lead up to conference play at the end of the month. In addition to playing Notre Dame on Tuesday, the Hawkeyes have chances to win quality games against Iowa State and Northern Iowa before the end of December.

The Hawkeyes better hope that Cook returns in time for their opening conference match-up at Purdue. If not, it’s going to be a long conference slate in Iowa City.