IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — It wasn’t all pretty, but it was a pretty impressive collegiate debut for Iowa’s Joe Wieskamp. The true freshman from Muscatine, Iowa scored 15 points, to lead the Hawkeyes (1-0) in a 77-63 season-opening win over UMKC on Thursday night.

“I think it’s kind of what we expect,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “He’s very confident in himself and the game comes easy to him. He plays at both ends of the floor, and played really good defense tonight. He’s tough. I’m just really thrilled for him and satisfied presently for what he’s done. You can tell he’s going to be special. “In the first half he was the only one hitting.”

For his part, Wieskamp wasn’t surprised by his debut, having been with the team since June and working out daily to get his game college-ready. The former Mr. Basketball for the state of Iowa preached confidence as the reason for his steadiness in the opener. “Any time you make your first shot, you know it’s going to be a good game,” Wieskamp said. “My teammates and coaches have the utmost confidence in me, and so that confidence carries over. I know I can score the ball and do a lot of things to help this team win, and that’s what I tried to do.”

The Hawkeyes got 12 points from Jordan Bohannon, as well as 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists from Tyler Cook. Maishe Dailey added 11 points for Iowa.

UP NEXT: Iowa hosts Green Bay on Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in the Hawkeyes’ second preliminary game for the 2K Empire Classic.