IOWA CITY — Aaron White arrived in Iowa City four years ago hoping to contribute and instead became an all-time great.

Let that sink in for a minute. White, a 6-foot-9 forward, was long, narrow and under-recruited. Mid-major programs had modest interest in him, yet Coach Fran McCaffery believed in him the second he stepped on campus. In fact, McCaffery’s faith in White was formed in the midst of a blowout loss even before the current senior became a Hawkeye.

Jarrod Uthoff interview

White and his father drove two hours south from their Strongsville, Ohio home two months after he signed a letter of intent and watched Iowa play at No. 1 Ohio State. The Buckeyes crushed Iowa 70-48 that night, sending the Hawkeyes to an 0-6 Big Ten start in McCaffery’s inaugural season.

“We got our ears pinned back that night with (Jared) Sullinger and those guys,” McCaffery said. “I told him, ‘It’s going to be better when you get here. It’s going to be better because you’re here.’”

White recalled the story in similar clarity.

“(McCaffery) just pulled me to the side and said, ‘This won’t happen when you’re here,’” White said. “You’re going to be part of the players that helps turn this around and get it back to what it used to be. He’s never lied to me since I’ve been here. It’s exactly what we’ve done.”

Since White’s arrival, Iowa has reached the postseason three consecutive years after missing it the previous five seasons. With a 23-point, nine-rebound performance in a 70-59 win against Nebraska on Monday, White pushed Iowa to its first 2-0 Big Ten start since 2003.

Monday, White became Iowa’s all-time leader in made free throws with 524. White broke Roy Marble’s record in his most typical fashion — a traditional three-point play. Afterward, he tried to recall the moment he set the mark, which was set with 52 seconds left in the first half.

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“It’s a huge honor,” White said. “I never thought in my wildest dreams that I’d come here and my name would be in the record books for anything, let alone a stat that important regarding points and free throws.

“I can’t remember the play to be honest when I broke it, but I knew coming into the game, ... I actually heard the Nebraska radio guy say something when I was shooting free throws, talking about it. It was a special thing for myself and something I’ll look back on after the season, and it will really hit me with what I’ve accomplished. But right now I’m just trying to do the things to help us win and make plays to keep getting wins in this tough league.”

Barring an unforeseen situation, White is on pace to set the school mark for career games played. He now ranks 11th in career scoring with 1,548 points and needs only 13 to tie Dean Oliver for 10th. He’s 20 rebounds shy of tying Don Nelson for 10th in that category.

White averages 16.5 points (eighth in the Big Ten) and 7.4 rebounds (third). He has shot and made the second-most free throws among Big Ten players this season and boasts the fifth-best free-throw percentage.

McCaffery touts White’s on-court intelligence and consistency as much as his athletic ability, saying White is “mentally on a different wavelength than everybody else.”

“That’s a guy who approaches the game in a professional way and works on his game and figures out how to score against teams that are scheming to stop it at a very high level,” McCaffery said. “I’m thrilled for him. I’m not surprised. He’s a guy that when we recruited him, we thought that he’d be one of the all-time greats and that says a lot here. He certainly has become one.”

White’s relentless work ethic sets him apart and he fuels that with a level of insecurity. When a Gazette reporter told him he approached the top 10 scoring list, White said, “You’ve been here the whole time I’ve been here and if somebody would have said that to you the first time you interviewed me, you would have thought they were crazy.”

White then was reminded that he scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in his first game. He was the first Iowa player since World War II to score at least 19 points in his freshman debut.

Fran McCaffery interview

“Hah hah, that’s true,” White said. “But still I didn’t have any of those aspirations. I wanted to do well here, and I never thought it would turn out like it has. I have a lot of people to thank, both here and within my family. It will special after my career is over with to look back on stuff like that.”

After watching Iowa get whipped by Ohio State in Columbus as a high school senior, White helped Iowa beat the Buckeyes there in each of his last two seasons. His career has coincided with the turnaround of Iowa basketball, which is a far greater mark than his statistics.

2. Uthoff’s week. In the moments before Iowa’s game against Nebraska, Iowa junior Jarrod Uthoff stood in the middle of a team circle and started to shout. He used hand gestures and his body shook. It was unusual for the normally unflappable Uthoff.

“I just got hyped before the game,” Uthoff said. “Ever since North Florida I’ve made a concerted effort to bring more energy to the table.”

That energy has translated to the court for Uthoff, who was named the Big Ten player of the week on Tuesday. Along with guiding Iowa to its first 2-0 start in Big Ten play since 2003, Uthoff shot 50 percent from the field in beating Ohio State and Nebraska. Uthoff was 11 of 22, including 7 of 14 from 3-point range, and averaged 16.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.0 block in Iowa’s two victories.

At Ohio State, Uthoff scored 18 points and drilled a 3-pointer and a jumper on consecutive possessions late in the game. He hit four 3-pointers and had five assists. Monday against Nebraska, he had 15 points, seven rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal. His 3-pointer with 7:12 gave Iowa a 53-51 lead. The Hawkeyes never trailed again.

At 6-foot-9, Uthoff is a match-up nightmare. He can post up or he can play from the wing. He’s long, athletic and can defend. He’s now put himself at the top of every opponent’s scouting report. He averages 11.4 points and 6.7 rebounds a game, ranking second on the team in both categories. He’s the team leader in 3-pointers (27) and 3-point percentage (40.3) among key players.

Uthoff, a Cedar Rapids Jefferson graduate, is Iowa’s first Big Ten men’s basketball player of the week since Devyn Marble on Jan. 13, 2014.

3. Olaseni’s free-throw shooting. Iowa backup center Gabe Olaseni is making a case for himself as the Big Ten’s sixth man of the year. Olaseni scored a career-high 18 points against Nebraska and sank 12 of 13 free-throw attempts. He now ranks ninth in Big Ten free-throw percentage at 84.6. Among the Big Ten’s top 15 free-throw shooters, Olaseni is the only center and 12 are guards.

Against Nebraska, Olaseni, a 6-foot-10 London native, was fouled at the rim three times in a three-possession span. He made all six free throws. In fact, he sank his first 12 free-throw attempts against Nebraska. In the Hawkeyes’ previous game against Ohio State, Olaseni knocked down all four attempts. That included two pivotal free throws with 4:45 left, and the Hawkeyes extended their lead to eight points.

“It’s great to see him doing that,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “You go back to the Ohio State game, his two free throws in that one stretch, arguably the two biggest points of that game. We were struggling a little bit. They made the run. They foul him, boom, boom. Gives us a little bit of a cushion. He just stepped up there and drilled ‘em.

“That’s why he’s in the gym three times a day every summer the whole time he’s been here. You get good at that stuff when you practice like he does.”

From the second half of Iowa’s non-conference finale against North Florida through his late-game miss against Nebraska, Olaseni had made 18 consecutive free throws.

“In terms of free throws, we do a lot of in-game situations (in practice),” Olaseni said. “We do a lot situations where we’re down, and I have to make two free throws to tie the game. It’s nothing like a game, but it definitely helps.

“I’m in a good rhythm right now.”

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