With the conference's second-leading rebounder sitting next to the head coach, Iowa didn't miss a beat in the low post.

Hawkeyes forward Sean Sonderleiter grabbed season highs in rebounds with 11, and points with 18, in last night's 75-55 win against the Penn State basketball team.

Sonderleiter took advantage of being guarded by the slower Penn State defenders, mainly Jan Jagla.

"That's one thing I try to do," he said. "I have good foot speed and just wanted to go by the guy."

Sonderleiter was re-inserted into the starting lineup last Saturday against Purdue following Jared Reiner's knee injury.

Sonderleiter knew that without Reiner, who is averaging 8.1 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, he needed to elevate his play on the court.

"Our big man was missing," Sonderleiter said.

"I had to fill his shoes and score the points that he normally does, plus mine. I needed to grab the rebounds that he would have."

Iowa's men's basketball coach Steve Alford knows that if Souderleiter can eliminate some of the mental mistakes from his game, he could be an impact player in the Big Ten.

Sonderleiter said that despite the good numbers statistically, he still made some mental errors on the court, and was slow on a couple of occasions on defensive rotations.

"He had a good game recording a double-double," Alford said. "He has the ability to shoot and drives hard to the basket." Sonderleiter started in the preseason but then went to the bench and didn't start a game again until Saturday, when he played 42 minutes but struggled from the field, connecting only on 4 of 15 shots.

He showed no problems of fatigue against Penn State, playing 33 minutes. He made 7-of-12 shots from the floor.

"Coach kept practice short," Sonderleiter said. "I just rested, played video games, didn't go out and studied."

He may have filled the shoes on this one evening for Reiner, but in Iowa it's not about the players but the team as a collective unit. Prior to the season Alford removed the names from the backs of the uniforms to bring about team unity.

"It's about Iowa the team winning," Sonderleiter said. "Making Iowa the team better, and driving Iowa forward toward winning a championship."