Filip Rebraca Aiming for More Production

Iowa Big Man Feels More Prepared After First Run Through Big Ten

Iowa's Filip Rebraca speaks with reporters at the team's annual media day on Oct. 5, 2022 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

IOWA CITY, Iowa - A few days after Iowa’s 2021-22 basketball season had come to a premature end, Filip Rebraca went looking for a pickup game on campus.

And when he found one, he knew the competition he’d be facing wouldn’t be up to par with the steady diet of guys like Zach Edey, Kofi Coburn, Trayce Jackson-Davis or Hunter Dickinson that he’d gone against in the Big Ten.

It would be regular students, playing because of their love for the game. You see, basketball has always been Rebraca’s love. But his passion had become an occupation during the grind of the season. His confidence was shot.

“I knew I was a lot better than I showed,” Filip said.

His love for hoops had become a job he didn’t like. But when Rebraca played in those pickup games, he felt free. His passion returned. And so did his confidence.

“It was relaxing,” Rebraca said. “And it just reignited my passion for the game. And with that, I got confidence in my abilities. I felt like I was having fun with the game I love. That was the key.”

Recharged and ready to go, Rebraca’s college basketball career has reached the final chapter. And the 6-foot-9 forward is ready to show everyone the real Filip Rebraca.

“I’m very excited, but sad at the same time,” said Rebraca, who played his first three seasons at North Dakota. “This is my last time going through this. It flew by so quickly. But I definitely want to leave my mark here. As a team we left our mark last year. We want to do it again. But I want to have a bigger role for myself. I want to be remembered here for something. It’s important to me.”

Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery anticipates that the Rebraca that Hawkeye fans see this season will be more productive than the one who started all 36 games and averaged 5.8 points and 5.6 rebounds in 2021-22..

“He has way more offense in his game than we saw last year,” McCaffery said. “It was good at times, and pretty good in general. But I think you’ll see a more aggressive player. Defensively, he’s spectacular. Guarding ball screens, close and recover, guarding smaller people. He’s all over the glass. His energy level is great. He’s in great shape physically. He’s mature. He’s been around. He’s playing with a great deal of confidence right now.”

In addition to better scoring and rebounding numbers, McCaffery predicts that Filip will play more than the 21 minutes he averaged last season.

“He played a lot of minutes last year, and was a starter for us, but he’s going to be out there a lot,” McCaffery said. “We need him out there.”

A native of Serbia, Rebraca attended prep school at Williston Northhampton School in Easthampton, Mass. That’s where former Iowa assistant Brian Jones, the head coach at North Dakota, found him. North Dakota didn’t have a lot of competition for Rebraca’s services, and Filip accepted their scholarship offer.

He played 89 games over three seasons for the Fighting Hawks, with 74 starts. He averaged 13 points and 7.5 rebounds for his career there.But Rebraca wanted to test his game at a higher level, and Iowa and the Big Ten fit the bill.

When Iowa beat Purdue to win the Big Ten Tournament Championship in Indianapolis, McCaffery hugged Rebraca and the two had words.

“He said “This is why you came here,’ ” Rebraca recalled. “I said, “Damn right.’ ”

But his first taste of the Big Ten was a 36-game grind that had Filip questioning himself and his game.

He had been the go-to guy at North Dakota. Keegan Murray was Iowa’s go-to guy. Murray, a consensus first-team all-American and selected by Sacramento with the fourth pick in the NBA Draft, attempted 554 shots for the Hawkeyes last season. Rebraca took 161 shots, less than half the 344 he attempted the previous season at North Dakota. The fewest shots he had ever attempted in a season had been 180 as a freshman.

His averages at Iowa were a significant drop from the 16.8 points and 7.6 rebounds he averaged as a junior at North Dakota.

“At North Dakota we played slow and deliberate,” Rebraca said. “It was, “Get Filip the ball in these positions and let him do his thing.’ Here, it’s more free flowing. If you want to score, you have to get yourself open. And you have to get your teammates open so you can get open. It was a different style that I wasn’t used to. It was an adjustment. And I learned a lot of things.”

In the Summit League, Rebraca faced players that were a mirror of his game, guys who were effective inside and out.

In the Big Ten, guys like Coburn, Jackson-Davis and Edey were paint-dominant players.

“That was an adjustment,” Rebraca said. “And they were all bigger than me, and weighed more than me.”

Rebraca’s confidence started to erode as the season went on.

“I was focused on myself, and how I was doing in my eyes,” Rebraca said. “That’s what made me struggle.”

He said that losing confidence was tough on him, and led to some sleepless nights. He talked to his father, Zeljko, searching for ways to get out of his funk. Zeljko played 16 professional seasons, five of them in the NBA and rest in Europe. He played for Yugoslavia on a silver medal Olympic team in 1996, and a FIBA World Cup Championship team in 1998.

Back in 1995, Zeljko had been a high-profile signing by Benetton Treviso of Italy. He had a miserable first season, and had to fight through self-doubt to get back his game. In 1997, he helped his team win an Italian League Championship.

“In the moment, I was overthinking it,” Filip said. “I was trying to do too much. I was constantly in the gym, constantly putting in the work, thinking I was going to break through that wall or barrier.”

Filip eventually found the answers he was looking for in a campus pickup game. Lacing them up and running up and down the floor was the perfect tonic for this lovesick hoopster.

“Sometimes, you’ve just got to let it loose and be free,” Filip said.

Rebraca expects his numbers to improve this season.

“I don’t have Keegan to steal rebounds from me, so my numbers will probably go up,” Rebraca said. “Offensively, I feel like I’ve been shooting the ball, spacing the floor and just being aggressive. I think my shooting will be the most visible thing.”