Four of final five games against teams with losing conference records
KCJJ Staff
02/21/19
Having finally been clipped by the buzzer, the 21st-ranked Iowa men’s basketball team will try to start a new winning streak as it heads into the final few weeks of the regular season.
The Hawkeyes had their four-game win streak snapped by #24 Maryland on Tuesday but now face another opponent in the bottom half of the conference when Indiana comes to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Friday. They already beat the Hoosiers on the road two weeks ago, hanging on for a five-point win.
Head coach Fran McCaffery says this recent string of close games is just what the Big Ten is this season.
“I think you just come to expect that,” McCaffery said. “That’s what this league is and that’s what typically happens the second part of the conference schedule. I mean, every game’s been like that, even the ones we’ve won.
“Obviously, the Illinois game was a little bit of an outlier because we made all those threes in a row. And that might happen – you hope it happens once a year. You hope it happens more than once but it typically doesn’t.”
Already up to 20 wins on the year, Iowa has put itself in position to make a return to the NCAA Tournament after missing out the last two seasons. However, the Hawkeyes can ill-afford a loss to a Hoosier team that is 13-13 overall and 4-11 in conference play.
“It is (a challenge playing a team a second time),” McCaffery said. “When you’re playing Indiana and you know what they’ve done this year. They’ve had some great wins. We know what that game was down there, how difficult it was. Our guys know what’s coming in here tomorrow night.”
The final five games set up well for them, however, with four of those five against teams with losing Big Ten records. Friday is also Iowa’s second-to-last home game of the season.
The game is set for an 8:15 p.m. tip-off on FS1.
