By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Cooper Koch admitted he showed no mercy shooting fade-away jumpers over the participants at Iowa’s basketball camp last summer.

“We were doing stations with all the kids, and his station was one-on-one with the kids,” guard Pryce Sandfort said after Sunday’s 104-57 win over New Orleans. “I was just watching him. He’d shoot step-backs from, like, 30 feet, and it was just all net every time. I’m like, ‘Holy crap. This … it’s gonna be special.”

Sandfort laughed when he was asked how old were the kids facing Sandfort..

“They’re probably 10 years old,” he said. “But he’s cooking. It’s not like they’re easy shots. I mean, he’s firing from deep so it was funny to watch. But if you’re hitting those shots, they’re impressive, no matter who he’s going against, 10-year-olds or 20-year-olds.”

Koch was next into the post-game press conference and confirmed Sandfort’s story.

“Yeah, sadly, I was,” Koch said when he was asked about hitting the shots.

He started laughing.

“Sometimes you’ve got to let them know,” Koch said. “They come in with a lot of cockiness, so you’ve got to let them know.”

This was going to be Koch’s season to let everyone know what kind of player he was, but it’s been sidetracked a bit by what he termed a “medical issue” that occurred in the summer and then kept him out of four games in the last couple of weeks.

Koch, a 6-foot-8 forward who is the son of former Hawkeye J.R. Koch, came back on Sunday, playing 21 ½ minutes and scoring six points.

“I’m just happy to be back here, taking it day by day, seeing how the rest of the season goes,” Koch said.

Koch was a big part of Iowa’s rotation before he went out. He has averaged 14 minutes in the seven games he has played in this season.

“Really good to have him back,” Sandfort said. “I thought he played great. It’s fun playing with him. Cooper, obviously, he’s a great shooter, and a really good rebounder, too. He’s always in the right spots, it feels like, so, you know he’s going to give you good minutes every time.”

Koch was in uniform for Thursday’s 89-80 loss to Iowa State, but didn’t play. McCaffery said after that game he was hoping to get him a few minutes.

Koch got a lot of minutes on Sunday.

“I didn’t notice him being tired,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “I asked him at halftime, ‘How are you feeling?’ He goes, ‘I’m a little tired, but I’m OK.’ So you know he’s going to give you everything he’s got. He’s going to give you effort, and he’s going to push through. We just listen to the trainers and the doctors at that point if there’s a reason to take them out. But I didn’t see one.”

“You could probably see I was a little gassed in the first half, but it felt really good to be back out there,” Koch said.

Koch entered the game at the 11:53 mark of the first half, and hit a 3-pointer two minutes later.

“Once you start sweating and getting back out there, go up and down a few times. It just comes back naturally,” Koch said.

Koch said not being able to practice was the hardest part of his time out.

“You really miss it, and appreciate it when you’re actually out there,” he said. “You definitely lose your wind a little bit, lose a little bit of strength. So being able to work through it the last week has definitely helped me gain a little bit of that back, and just happy to be back out there with the guys.”

Koch didn’t go into detail on what the medical issue was, just saying that it “wasn’t that severe.”

“It’s something that I’ve been dealing with and been working through,” he said.

Given the history of his father being a Hawkeye, Koch grew up a fan of the program.

“I’ve had a lot of first impressions, but finally being on the court after watching for so many years, it was really a surreal moment being able to finally be out there,” he said.

“It’s great to see him (back),” McCaffery said. “He wants it so bad. He’s worked really hard. Terrific player, a big part of our team, and just rooting for him to continue to stay healthy.”

Photo: Iowa forward Cooper Koch and Rider forward Tariq Ingraham fight for a rebound during the November 19 game in Iowa City. (Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire)