When IU left Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City last season, the team just sealed the Big Ten regular season championship. When the Hoosiers exit the same arena Tuesday, they’re just looking to win and move up from the bottom of the Big Ten standings.
The Hoosiers have done a complete 180 from their 2015-2016 campaign and after losing four straight games, IU’s NCAA tournament hopes are slim to none.
IU is currently in 11th place in the Big Ten, with losses in six of its last seven games. Finishing 10th or higher would allow IU a first-round bye in the conference tournament, and its next battle comes against an Iowa team that currently sits one game ahead of them.
One positive for the Hoosiers heading into Tuesday’s 9 p.m. tipoff is rest. IU hasn’t played a game in six days, marking the longest number of off days since late December, when it had six days off between a win over Austin Peay and a conference-opening loss to Nebraska.
Junior guard Josh Newkirk said the time off has given IU a chance to perfect small things and get better as a team.
“Just getting the little details down, knowing where to be on offense,” Newkirk said. “And knowing where to guard different things on defense, those were the main focuses.”
If there’s a team for IU to snap its long losing streak against, it’s Iowa. The Hawkeyes are on a three-game losing skid of their own and are likely also on the outside looking in for the NCAA tournament.
Senior guard Peter Jok leads Iowa and the Big Ten in scoring at 20.4 points per game, in addition to shooting 37 percent from beyond the arc and higher than 90 percent at the free throw line.
Outside of Jok, freshman forward Tyler Cook is the only Hawkeye averaging double digit scoring. Iowa plays a deep lineup of 11 guys, and IU assistant coach Rob Judson said the Hoosiers will have to be sharp on their personnel matchups.
“Jok can score inside, he can score out and he’s definitely a threat from anywhere on the court,” Judson said. “They’re an inside, outside team so we’ll have to be ready on both those fronts defensively.”
What gives IU hope in Tuesday night’s matchup is Iowa’s poor scoring defense. While the Hoosiers have allowed the third most points per game in the conference at fewer than 71.7, the Hawkeyes have allowed the most at nearly 78 per game.
A major emphasis for the Hoosiers offensively Tuesday will be to take care of the basketball. The Hawkeyes lead the Big Ten in steals and the Hoosiers lose the ball more than 15 times per game on average.
Judson said the Hoosiers will also try to attack the Hawkeye pressure in an attempt to score some easy buckets.
Judson said it comes down to executing on consecutive possessions in the middle of games. IU hasn’t been able to string together solid possessions throughout a game recently, but if that’s fixed Tuesday, the Hoosiers could potentially find themselves back in the win column.
“People will always focus on the last possession and that’s a big, important possession,” Judson said. “But the teams that really make strides will focus on possessions throughout the game. College basketball you know is a game of runs, and we want to get the most of those.”
