Passing the torch
Down one key player, the Hawks needed someone to pick up the points. Who stepped up? Adam Haluska
Nick Richards - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 2/25/05 Section: Sports
Close your eyes.
Imagine shaggy hair matted against his forehead as he drives the baseline with his track-like speed. He spins past his opponent and sails into the lane, elevating for a perfect lay-up. Athleticism rises through his pores and drips slowly to the floor.
Open your eyes. Did you have any idea that player was from a small town in western Iowa with a population slightly more than 10,000?
Adam Haluska, who hails from Carroll, Iowa, is arguably the best player on the Iowa men's basketball team.
After a messy transfer from Iowa State following the 2002-03 season, Haluska has found his niche in Iowa City, and he is quickly becoming Iowa's best all-around weapon. Haluska is averaging 13.8 points a game on the season but has taken his scoring to the next level the last six games in Pierre Pierce's absence. He has averaged 18.5 points over the team's last half dozen contests as Iowa's go-to scorer.
"We have been very God blessed," said Steve Haluska, Adam's father and principal at Carroll High School. "I think my kids have been blessed with a very high level of talent and ability. They've done a lot with it. The time and effort that goes into it behind the scenes ... you can't even begin to imagine."
Adam Haluska's career is about more than just basketball. He built his speed and endurance in track and field with countless sprints. The immeasurable work helped build the explosion that allows him to blow past opponents on Carver-Hawkeye Arena's parquet floor. He lettered in four sports, adding football and baseball to his track and basketball exploits, but basketball was his passion.
"I was really fast when I was younger, but I think when I got to high school, track really gave me that speed that you can use on the basketball court," Adam Haluska said. "Working on jumping, and explosion, and everything else, I think it just carried onto the basketball floor."
He started turning heads in middle school, when he could already dunk. He developed a "gym rat" mentality in both basketball and track, shooting hundreds of jumpers and practicing with the varsity track team and duplicating their drills.
Imagine shaggy hair matted against his forehead as he drives the baseline with his track-like speed. He spins past his opponent and sails into the lane, elevating for a perfect lay-up. Athleticism rises through his pores and drips slowly to the floor.
Open your eyes. Did you have any idea that player was from a small town in western Iowa with a population slightly more than 10,000?
Adam Haluska, who hails from Carroll, Iowa, is arguably the best player on the Iowa men's basketball team.
After a messy transfer from Iowa State following the 2002-03 season, Haluska has found his niche in Iowa City, and he is quickly becoming Iowa's best all-around weapon. Haluska is averaging 13.8 points a game on the season but has taken his scoring to the next level the last six games in Pierre Pierce's absence. He has averaged 18.5 points over the team's last half dozen contests as Iowa's go-to scorer.
"We have been very God blessed," said Steve Haluska, Adam's father and principal at Carroll High School. "I think my kids have been blessed with a very high level of talent and ability. They've done a lot with it. The time and effort that goes into it behind the scenes ... you can't even begin to imagine."
Adam Haluska's career is about more than just basketball. He built his speed and endurance in track and field with countless sprints. The immeasurable work helped build the explosion that allows him to blow past opponents on Carver-Hawkeye Arena's parquet floor. He lettered in four sports, adding football and baseball to his track and basketball exploits, but basketball was his passion.
"I was really fast when I was younger, but I think when I got to high school, track really gave me that speed that you can use on the basketball court," Adam Haluska said. "Working on jumping, and explosion, and everything else, I think it just carried onto the basketball floor."
He started turning heads in middle school, when he could already dunk. He developed a "gym rat" mentality in both basketball and track, shooting hundreds of jumpers and practicing with the varsity track team and duplicating their drills.
