Making the commitment
Iowa’s basketball team returned to the practice court Thursday night, greeted by a coach still feeling some pain from the way the Hawkeyes executed in last weekend’s loss at Drake.
Coach Todd Lickliter said during a teleconference this morning that the focus remains centered around core beliefs that will help Iowa progress as the Big Ten season nears.
“It is important that we commit to the things we want to accomplish in practice every day. As we move forward, do that will help us compete,” Lickliter said. “When we are playing the games, we have to be able to execute under pressure. Adjustments will be important as well, but what we have to do is commit to areas that will help us be successful. We’ve addressed those areas with the team in a meeting Sunday before our break and again when we returned to practice (Thursday) night.”
With classes out of session, there are no limits in the number or hours Iowa can practice during a week. It wasn’t uncommon for Lickliter’s predecessor to hold three-a-day practices at this time of year. Lickliter prefers to maximize time during two-a-days, something he believes can benefit this team in a big way.
“Early on, we played so many games in such a short period of time we had little time for ourselves as we prepared for the next opponent,” he said. “We have a team that can benefit from getting out on the court a couple of times in a day and learning. It is something that can help us a lot.”
Lickliter referred to the Drake game as a “wake-up call” for his team and he said it “lingers” with him and his players.
“They controlled that game from start to finish and exposed some real deficiencies that we are working to address,” he said, adding that he encouraged his players to “recover, relax and reflect” during their three full days off before Iowa began to focus on Saturday’s home game with Western Illinois.
