Preparing for battle

It's inevitable. \nLuke Recker will get the attention. He'll catch the eye of IU players and the ire of Hoosier fans. He'll play an immense role in Sunday's match-up between two early Big Ten contenders when IU and Iowa meet at 1 p.m. in Iowa City's Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hoosiers have lost there six consecutive times.\nAlready, the 6-foot-6 senior forward from Auburn, Ind., who left Bloomington following his sophomore season in 1998-1999, is at the top of discussion. \n"It's a lot of fun," guard Tom Coverdale said. "At the beginning of the year, everybody looks wanting to play (Recker). When you play against people you know, you want to beat them."\nThat's something IU couldn't do last season, when Iowa upended IU in Iowa City and in the Big Ten Tournament championship in Chicago. \nIn the first game, IU blew a 17-point halftime lead, as Recker exploded for 27 points in a 71-66 Iowa victory. Recker re-aggravated a knee injury in that game and didn't play in the Big Ten Tournament, when the Hawkeyes edged the Hoosiers 63-61.\nThe remnants of those two losses still don't sit well with the Hoosiers (10-5, 3-0 Big Ten). \n"That's our motivation," forward Jared Jeffries said. "That team got us twice last year, and it's time for us to go back to their place. Last year, we had them down by almost 20 at halftime, and they came back and beat us. We can't let that happen this year."\nTo do that, IU will focus on No. 13 Iowa's tandem of Recker and power forward Reggie Evans, the Big Ten's top two leading scorers. Evans, also the league's leading rebounder, averages 18.3 points and 11.9 rebounds per game and has attempted a league-leading 161 free throws. Recker pours in 18.8 points per game.\nIn Iowa's 70-60 victory over Northwestern Wednesday, Evans had 21 points and 11 rebounds. Recker scored 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting. \nIU defensive stopper Dane Fife picked up two fouls early in Iowa City last season, allowing Recker to erupt for 27. Fife, who coach Mike Davis called IU's "best defender from the guard position," will likely match up with his former roommate Sunday. \n"He's a smart player," Davis said of Recker. "He gets to the free-throw line a lot. Fife picked up two fouls last year early in the game, and that hurt us a lot. All we want to do is go on the road and compete and play hard."\nIU has done that in its first three league games, racing to an early Big Ten lead. The Iowa trip starts a three-game road swing that includes trips to Ohio State and Penn State, which IU beat 61-54 Saturday. \nDefense is expected to play a big role Sunday. Both teams limit their opponents to only 40 percent from the field, but Iowa's high-powered offense scores 78.9 points per game. \nDavis has consistently used a three-guard lineup but might be forced to make match-up changes against the Hawkeyes. Iowa starts four players who are 6-6 and is second to Michigan State in rebounding margin.\nThe Spartans out-rebounded IU 33-20 Tuesday. IU should have 6-11 center George Leach, who sprained his ankle at Northwestern and sat out much of the Michigan State game, back in the lineup. \nThe Hawkeyes are also deep, with three reserves who average more than 5 points per game.\nOhio State slowed down the Iowa offense Saturday -- the Buckeyes held Recker to 11 points on 10 shots -- upsetting the Hawkeyes (13-4, 2-1) 72-62 in Columbus. The Big Ten season has already included a number of upsets, including OSU's victory and a pair of losses by Illinois.\nIowa coach Steve Alford is impressed with the parity among the league's teams and isn't ruling out losing on his home floor, where the Hawkeyes fended off a pesky Northwestern bunch Wednesday.\n"You have to give your 'A' game at home and on the road to win," said Alford, in his third season at Iowa. "You have a group of 11 teams, where anything can happen."\nAnything did happen in IU's 83-65 pounding of Michigan State Tuesday, as the Hoosiers connected on 14 three-pointers and created a stir in the Big Ten standings. An IU victory would give two league losses to three teams -- Iowa, Illinois and Michigan State -- thought to be the frontrunners for the Big Ten crown. \n"We have three tough (road) games," Davis said. "We're just going to go out and compete as hard as we can and see what happens"