Hoosiers looks to end streak against Hawkeyes

The Big Ten season is beginning to wind down and the men's basketball team (15-9, 5-6) is rounding the home stretch with three of its last five on the road, where the team has not won a game since New Year's Eve.\nWhile the Hoosiers have exhibited strong play in the first halves of many of those games (e.g. Louisville, Michigan State, and Wisconsin) they have had problems finishing teams off after halftime.\n"We've got to find a way to put two halves together on the road," freshman guard Bracey Wright said after last Saturday's 59-71 loss to Wisconsin.\nIU will get another chance to do just that when they head to Iowa City to take on the University of Iowa Hawkeyes (13-8, 5-5) tonight at 9 p.m.\nWhile the Hoosiers are in the midst of a three-game road stretch, Iowa is enjoying just the opposite -- a three-game home stand. \nBut coach Steve Alford said that he does not necessarily see this is as an advantage.\n"I don't like it," he said. "I don't like three in a row either way; I think two is plenty. That's something that we as coaches need to discuss during the spring meetings and really take a serious look at it … I just don't think there's a rationale that there is a fairness in the scheduling whether it's three at home or three on the road."\nThe Hawkeyes opened their home stint last Saturday with an 84-71 win over Penn State. The team shot 59.2 percent from the field while freshman guard Jeff Horner had arguably his most complete game of the season, recording 12 points, eight assists, four steals and six rebounds. \nAlong with averages of 9.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, Horner leads the Big Ten in assists and steals and is one of the league's many freshmen who have made an impact on their teams this season.\nJunior college transfer Chauncey Leslie has also been a productive backcourt presence for Iowa this year. The senior is averaging 16.1 points per game on nearly 50 percent shooting.\nOn the inside, IU will face junior center Jared Reiner (8.4 ppg, 8.4 rpg) and junior forward Sean Sonderleiter (8.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg). Junior forward Glen Worley, who recorded 15 points and 10 boards against Penn State, is expected to come off the bench.\nTonight's game will mark the first time Iowa and IU have played each other since the second round of last year's Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis. \nThe Hawkeyes clawed back from an eight point deficit in the final five minutes of that game. Then senior guard Luke Recker, who played two seasons at IU before transferring to Arizona and then to Iowa, hit a last second baseline jumper to give his squad the 62-60 win, knocking the Hoosiers out of the conference tournament for the second straight year. \nAlthough the Hoosiers won in Iowa City during the regular season last year, the circumstances are a bit different this season and Davis said he knows Carver-Hawkeye Arena is not a friendly place for visiting teams.\n"Iowa's a tough place to play," he said. "We've been up a couple games by double digits (there) and ended up losing the game. It's like any other Big Ten arena. It's just very tough to play because of the fans."\nDavis noted that, with five regular season games left, the Hoosiers could still head into the Big Ten tournament with the same amount of wins (19) as last year's team. In order to do this, they must win four of their last five which includes tonight's game followed by a game at No. 20 Illinois, two at home against Iowa and Minnesota, and then their grand finale at Penn State.\nAt the very least, Davis said the team must finish the season at 8-8 in the conference. \nThe NCAA has already indicated that they will not look kindly on sub-.500 teams when making their selections for the NCAA Tournament next month and, with so many teams hovering around that mark in the Big Ten, it is not likely that programs with losing records will make the cut.\nIn order to reach that goal, Davis said his seniors, especially shooting guard Tom Coverdale, have to show leadership by communicating with their teammates and exhibiting a hard-nose mentality. \nDavis said that he thought Coverdale had the ability to be the type of player that shooting guard Dane Fife was for the Hoosiers last season -- a fierce competitor with an infectious drive to win.\n"If we don't change our mindset and get tougher it's going to be hard to dig these games out," he said.