Journey Houston is making the kind of offseason jump that gets noticed fast in Iowa City.
When LaSondra Barrett was asked Tuesday which player had taken the biggest step forward, the University of Iowa assistant women’s basketball coach didn’t need to think long.
Journey Houston.
“You can argue she should have been on the all-(Big Ten) freshman team (last season),” Barrett said after practice at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. “She’s gotten in more workouts. Her body has slimmed down.”
Houston, a sophomore from Davenport and the only Iowan on the roster, is coming off a rookie season in which she averaged 5.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game while backing up Hannah Stuelke at power forward. But Iowa’s shift to a “four-out” offense is changing the job description, and Houston’s game is moving farther from the paint.
That’s where the new look starts to matter. Houston says her perimeter game has taken a real step.
“My 3-point shot has come a long way,” she said. “I kind of always knew I could do it, so actually seeing it happen and getting comfortable in the flow of a new offense is really helpful for my mindset.”
On Tuesday, that confidence showed up in a big way.
“She shot the crap out of it today, which was good to see,” Barrett said. “As she grows confidence, she is going to be a lot more dynamic than we had.
“(Stuelke) brought one skill set for us and it was great, but I think Journey can adapt to that guard spot quicker.
“For her, it’s just confidence. We all know she’s a gamer, and if she can be confident, she can be dangerous.”
Iowa’s group is also unusually small. The roster sits at 11, which may be the smallest in program history, and 10 players were at Tuesday’s practice. Freshman Ella Stromdahl is still in Sweden and won’t arrive until fall.
That limited number changes the feel of the work.
“The drill work, we’re limited on numbers but we have great (manager) guys that come out,” Barrett said. “I will say you can be hands-on more now than with a big group.”
The roster breakdown includes five returners - Ava Heiden, Taylor Stremlow, Chit-Chat Wright, Houston and Layla Hays - along with two freshmen, McKenna Woliczko and Stromdahl, and four transfers: Dani Carnegie, Jocelyn Faison, Amari Whiting and Bria Medina.
Barrett said that after last season, the Hawkeyes want a more connected group.
“A lesson that we learned from last year, we want to be more team-centered and oriented,” Barrett said. “They all want to see each other win and do well.
“I think having 11 helps that. Everybody knows they will have a piece in this season.”
Two of those newcomers already share a familiar thread. Carnegie and Faison both played at Georgia, which was knocked out by Virginia in the first round of the NCAA tournament in March at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
They didn’t arrive in Iowa as a tandem, though.
“(Carnegie) had her route, I had my route and we both ended up at the same school,” Faison said.
Carnegie, an all-SEC first-team pick last season, comes in with the bigger résumé. But Barrett thinks Faison could turn into one of the quieter success stories on the roster.
“She just needs have somebody believe in her,” Barrett said. “She didn’t get a lot of playing time at Georgia, and I think for her, once she gets that confidence, she can be really special for us.”
Faison is a 6-foot-1 guard, and she said the fit at Iowa is exactly what she was looking for.
“Definitely the environment here was something I wanted to experience. I’m excited to come here and have those crowds supporting me,” she said. “I want to be that long, lanky guard that can get to the basket, and is defense-first.”
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