Purdue, Iowa trying to pick up steam

Steve Alford isn't big on Christmas break. \nAt least not after Iowa stumbled to four losses in five Big Ten games after returning to Iowa City. \nThe Hawkeyes escaped with a 75-71 victory against Michigan State Tuesday and might have found some breathing room. They head to Purdue at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in search of their first back-to-back wins since early this month. \nBut Alford is anything but happy. \n"Apparently, everybody got a bucket-load of Christmas gifts and got spoiled," Alford said before the Michigan State game. "We have not played the way we're capable of playing since Christmas break."\nAlford had several complaints about his team, which he said wasn't happy with a pre-game meal at Northwestern, a team that beat the No. 24 Hawkeyes (14-7, 3-4 Big Ten) 63-50 and saw them hit just 15 of 32 from the free throw line. \nBut he understands what he's trying to accomplish at Iowa and said the road to get where he wants his program to remain isn't a simple one to navigate. \n"We're battling with some toughness issues," Alford said, adding that he's still trying to figure out how Iowa is ranked. "When you're trying to bring a program to elite status, that climb is very tough. We just have to hope that (we've hit) rock bottom. We can still turn this and get it in the right direction, but we better start working on this in a hurry."\nAlford didn't start guard Luke Recker against Michigan State (11-8, 2-4) in an attempt to stir up momentum, and the approach worked. Recker scored 16 points and got help from forward and fellow senior Reggie Evans, who scored 16 and grabbed seven rebounds. \nIf Iowa can't win Saturday in West Lafayette, Purdue will pick up steam for the first time since conference play began. \nThe Boilermakers (10-11, 2-5) edged Northwestern (10-7, 2-4) by two points Wednesday and got themselves out of the Big Ten basement. Only Penn State (5-12, 1-5) is still stuck on one league victory. The Nittany Lions travel to Wisconsin (11-9, 4-3) Saturday for a 11:15 a.m. tip-off. \nBut coach Gene Keady said the Boilermakers could just as quickly slip down in the standings again if they don't pick up their play on the defensive end. \nNorthwestern shot 56 percent against Purdue but managed only 61 points. Purdue is allowing opponents to shoot a league-high 54 percent in Big Ten play. \n"Not much has changed," Keady said. "We still have our difficulty guarding people. We have trouble getting the right people in there to stop people. We keep working on it in practice, but you certainly can't tell in games."\nMiddle of the pack\nSix of the league's 11 teams have three or four conference losses already, leaving the Big Ten standings clogged and cluttered. \nNone of those six teams play one another this weekend, but there are four intra-conference games slated for Saturday, including one involving the Big Ten leader and another including the league's second- and third-place teams. \nMinnesota (10-7, 3-3) will battle league-leading No. 23 Ohio State (15-2, 6-0 before Thursday's game against Michigan) at 4:30 p.m. in Minneapolis. \nNo. 8 Illinois (15-4, 4-2) travels to IU to battle the Hoosiers (12-6, 4-1) at 1 p.m.\nOhio State's Brian Brown, who scored a career-high 26 points in the Buckeyes' 73-67 victory over IU Saturday, was named the Big Ten Player of the Week. He also dropped in 15 in a win over Penn State. But he'll face a well-rested Golden Gopher bunch Saturday.\nMinnesota hasn't played since losing to Michigan in Williams Arena Saturday and will play an Ohio State squad that played Thursday night, attended classes and took off for Minneapolis late today. \nThe Gophers took Sunday and Monday off and still haven't come to terms with their third league loss. \n"We have a real sour taste in our mouth, and we have to deal with that for a whole week," coach Dan Monson said Monday. "The biggest thing is our consistency. We have been able to stream together good sequences where our offense and our defenses are on the same page."\nOutside the league\nMichigan and Northwestern will play non-conference games this weekend, with the Wolverines (7-9, 3-4) welcoming Vermont and Northwestern traveling to Buffalo. \nMichigan first-year coach Tommy Amaker is both surprised and pleased at his squad's solid start in Big Ten play and is counting on the win at Minnesota to help carry the Wolverines through the guts of the conference schedule. \n"I really think if somebody had told us we'd be .500 in the conference six games into the conference, we'd be pretty pleased," Amaker said. "Our kids are feeling a little bit like that themselves. We feel good about ourselves"