What a weekend. The Hawkeyes looked great on the gridiron Saturday and the hoops squad had themselves a good time as well. We told you yesterday about the then-newest member of the Hawkeyes’ class of 2017, D.C. center Luka Garza. Visiting with Garza was Indiana power forward Jack Nunge. Last night, Nunge made it 2/2 for the Hawkeyes with weekend visitors.
Excited that I will be attending the University of Iowa #GoHawks◼️ pic.twitter.com/ayTfk3kczJ
— Jack Nunge (@jnunge30) September 12, 2016
I’ll be honest, I have no idea how Nunge fits on the team (at this point I assume someone is going to have to transfer out or maybe Baer becomes a walk-on again) but I’m not sure I care. Fran continues to add talent to the roster and it’s going to pay huge dividends.
Nunge is originally from Iowa City and in a six degrees of Kevin Bacon world, he was actually neighbors with Coach McCaffery when Fran and family first moved to Iowa City. Nunge’s family moved to Indiana shortly thereafter but Iowa felt like home again when he visited this weekend.
The 6-10, 200-lb power forward is going to draw a lot of comparisons to Jarrod Uthoff. He is long, lean and can shoot the rock. I wouldn’t expect near the same level of production, certainly not right away, but the game is definitely reminiscent. More of an outside-in game with the ability to get around other big guys and shoot over smaller forwards. Don’t sleep on his athleticism and the length will surely create problems for opponents on the defensive end as we saw with Uthoff.
As a junior, Nunge averaged 19 points, 11 boards and nearly 4 blocks a game for Castle HS in Newburgh, IN. Iowa beat out a handful of other schools for Nunge, including Vanderbilt and Nebraska. He is a consensus 3-star recruit and the #7 recruit in the state of Indiana.
Welcome aboard, Mr. Nunge.