Marble feels good about his health and game

IOWA CITY, Ia. Day after day, test after test. The life of a college student.

But in this case, there was nothing routine about Devyn Marble’s daily routine. His tests were not in a classroom. These tests were to see if he had recovered from a concussion, suffered in practice Oct. 14 and diagnosed a day later.

“Those tests were hard for anybody,” Iowa’s sophomore guard said. “I had to try and remember different designs, and signals, and stuff like that. Stuff you don’t do on a normal basis and something that’s already hard to remember.”

Marble finally passed the test on Oct. 26, but didn’t get the results until the following day when he showed up at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. He played in Iowa’s scrimmage with Western Illinois Oct. 30 and will see action when the Hawkeyes meet Northwest Missouri State in a 3:30 p.m. exhibition game Sunday.

“It’s been real good to get back out there,” Marble said. “It’s not fun sitting on the sidelines.”

Marble said he suffered the concussion when Matt Gatens fell on him. He finished practice that day, and the next, but started having headaches and wasn’t feeling well. That’s when the concussion was diagnosed.

“I was thinking maybe I was sick or something,” Marble said.

Marble is getting time at the point guard, second guard and small forward spots, and played all three positions in the scrimmage with Western Illinois.

“They all bring different things,” Marble said. “From the (small forward) spot you crash the glass a lot more. At the (point) the ball is in your hands a lot. At the (second guard) they run a lot of plays for you, and you get more shots.”

The bigger challenge of playing three positions is on defense.

“I think the most challenging is guarding a point guard or second guard, in my case, because most guys there are quicker than me,” the 6-foot-6 Marble said. “But I usually have the size advantage. It goes both ways.”

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Category: Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball