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IOWA CITY, Iowa – When Jake Kelly transferred to Indiana State and Jeff Peterson bolted for Arkansas last spring, the Iowa men’s basketball team was in dire need of a point guard.

Thanks to a change of heart and a coach being dismissed, it didn’t take Todd Lickliter long to find a replacement.

Southpaw Cully Payne, a 6-foot-1 freshman, signed with the Hawkeyes on the first day of the spring period last April.

Now, as a rookie in the Big Ten Conference, Payne is ready to be Iowa’s floor general this winter.

“I always grew up playing against older kids, so I’m not afraid or intimidated,” Payne said during the Hawkeyes’ annual media day Monday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. “It’s a challenge, but it’s going to be fun.”

The Hawkeyes were fortunate to have Payne fall in their lap.

After his eighth-grade year, Payne committed to DePaul. Three years later, during his junior season at Schaumburg High School (Ill.), Payne withdrew his verbal and later committed to Alabama,

“I just felt like the situation (at DePaul) wasn’t right,” Payne said. “I think a better place was out there for me.”

Payne signed with Alabama last November, but he was released from his letter of intent after Crimson Tide coach Mark Gottfried was fired during the season.

So, the Hawkeyes jumped in and offered Payne, who averaged 21.6 points, 5.4 assists and 2.2 steals per game in 16 contests last year at Schaumburg before missing the second half of the year with a back injury.

“I told Cully not too long ago, ‘Do you know how fortunate you are, Cully, to get the right place after the third time?” Lickliter quipped.

Before Payne committed to Alabama, Iowa recruited him. In fact, the Hawkeyes planned to have him in for an Elite Camp in the summer of 2008, but the floods canceled that.

“I’d like to think if he had (come here) and would have met us and seen the campus, it would have been different,” Lickliter said. “So what we got is just a second chance. He got a second chance. We’re both just thrilled that it happened that way.”

Practice doesn’t tip off until Friday, but Payne has already garnered the respect of his teammates during the summer Prime Time League and fall workouts.

“He loves the game of basketball,” sophomore Matt Gatens said, “and you can tell he’s a gym rat. You can tell he’s played the game for a long time. He has a great basketball IQ.”

The son of a coach, Payne displayed a sharp shooting touch, great court awareness and had a knack for controlling the tempo of a game in the PTL this summer.

“There’s definitely no fear in Cully,” junior captain Jarryd Cole said. “He’s very fearless. He’s not going to let anybody back him down. If he wants to get to a spot on the floor, he’s going to get there.”

Payne is one of four scholarship newcomers for the Hawkeyes, joining Sioux City’s Brennan Cougill, Dubuque Wahlert’s Eric May and Indianapolis native Devon Archie.

And for a program that has endured consecutive losing seasons, a 10th-place Big Ten finish in 2008-09, lost three primary starters and has just one senior in Devan Bawinkel, the expectations outside the Hawkeye locker room are minimal. Most preseason magazines have Iowa targeted for last.

“We look at that as just a great challenge, because we’ve got great confidence in our team and in ourselves,” Lickliter said. “You know, some of my favorite stories are ones where the non-favorites are the ones that came out on top.”

During his press conference, Lickliter referenced “Seabiscuit,” a horse who overcame long odds to have success.

“I think we’ve turned the corner,” Lickliter said. “I’m excited. I like where we’re going. And so much of that is just the group that we’ve got right now and the support that we receive and the staff that we have.

“None of us are happy with where we finished last year, and that’s huge. Who would want to be? We’re never going to be happy until we’re competing for championships.”

Payne believes that can happen sooner rather than later.

“I’ve heard people say, ‘You’re going to be last in the Big Ten; you’re not going to win many games,’” Payne said. “To us, that’s another challenge.

“We’re going to surprise some people this year, and it’s going to be a fun time.”

A closer look at Iowa

- Head coach: Todd Lickliter (third year, 28-36 at Iowa)

- 2008-09 record: 15-17, 5-13 Big Ten

- Starters returning (4): Matt Gatens (10.8 ppg., 3.8 rpg., 3.1 apg.); Aaron Fuller (4.0 ppg., 2.7 rpg., 0.4 apg.); Jarryd Cole (3.7 ppg., 3.0 rpg., 0.3 spg.); Devan Bawinkel (4.8 ppg., 1.6 rpg.).

- Newcomers to watch: Cully Payne, 6-1, fr.; Eric May, 6-5, fr.; Devon Archie, 6-9, jr.; Brennan Cougill, 6-9, fr.

- 2009-10 schedule

November

8 — Marian University (exhib.) 12:35 p.m.; 15 — Texas-San Antonio, 5:05 p.m.; 17 — Duquesne, 8:05 p.m.; 20 — Bowling Green, 8:05 p.m.; 23 — vs. Texas at Kansas City, 8:45 p.m.; 24 — vs. Pittsburgh or Wichita State at Kansas City, 6:45 or 9 p.m.; 28 — North Carolina Cen., 12:35 p.m.

December

1 — Virginia Tech, 8:35 p.m.; 5 — Prairie View A&M, 3:05 p.m.; 8 — at Northern Iowa, 7:05 p.m.; 11 — at Iowa State, 7:05 p.m.; 19 — Drake, 5:35 p.m.; 21 — South Carolina State, 7:35 p.m.; 29 — Purdue, 6:05 p.m.

January

2 — Minnesota, 3:05 p.m.; 5 — at Illinois, 8:05 p.m.; 9 — Michigan State, 4:35 p.m.; 12 — Tennessee State, 8:05 p.m.; 16 — Penn State, 12:05 p.m.; 20 — at Michigan State, 5:35 p.m.; 24 — at Indiana, 4:05 p.m.; 27 — Ohio State, 7:35 p.m.; 30 — at Michigan, 3:35 p.m.

February

3 — Illinois, 7:35 p.m.; 7 — at Ohio State, 11:05 a.m.; 10 — Northwestern, 7:35 p.m.; 13 — at Purdue, 3:35 p.m.; 16 — Michigan, 8:05 p.m.; 25 — at Northwestern, 6:05 p.m.; 28 — Indiana, 5:05 p.m.

March

2, 3 or 4 — at Wisconsin, TBD; 7 — at Minnesota, 5:05 p.m.; 11-14 — Big Ten Tournament at Indianapolis.