Hoosiers head home for Hawkeyes

The IU men's basketball team will return home Tuesday night to face the Iowa Hawkeyes after a successful weekend trip to State College, Pa.\nThe Hoosiers defeated Penn State 84-74 behind a career-high 25 points and 12 boards from senior guard Rod Wilmont. \nThe Hoosiers improved to 12-4 overall and 3-1 in Big Ten play with the victory.\n"Rod threw up a couple of vomit shots the other day," coach Kelvin Sampson said during a press conference Monday. "I doubt we had anybody else on this team that would even think about shooting some of his shots, but what are you going to say to Rod? I thought he did a good job defending (Penn State forward Geary) Claxton and their half-court sets. He had 12 rebounds and was busting his tail."\nThe first-year IU coach also said he was pleased with the Hoosiers' victory against the Nittany Lions, but he said his squad still needs to improve its overall toughness.\n"We have a long way to go in terms of being hard-nosed. I thought we were hard-nosed the last 25 minutes (against Penn State), maybe," Sampson said. "We always have guys that play hard. This isn't tennis or golf. The team has got to play hard. When two or three guys aren't competing, it hurts the team."\nIn addition to Wilmont, four other Hoosiers scored in double digits Saturday, including junior forward D.J. White, who tallied 14 points and 11 rebounds, six of which were on the offensive end. The Hoosiers struggled with foul trouble throughout the game, but the Nittany Lions were unable to capitalize, hitting just 20-of-30 free-throw attempts.\nBut Iowa (10-7, 2-1 Big Ten) will present a different challenge for the Hoosiers on Tuesday night -- the Hawkeyes are No. 1 in the Big Ten in free-throw percentage. IU has struggled against the Hawkeyes in recent years, having lost the last four games in the series, including both contests played last season. The last five matches in Bloomington were decided by three points or fewer.\nThis year's Hawkeyes are led by the senior-freshman combination of guard Adam Haluska and forward Tyler Smith. Haluska averages 20.3 points per game, while Smith averages 15 points and 4.6 boards a game. Smith is a former teammate of IU freshman guard Armon Bassett at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va.\n"The things that impress you is that everybody knows (Haluska is) a prolific 3-point shooter, but he's been to the foul line 95 times," Sampson said. "It tells me he's well-rounded. He plays like a senior. Tyler Smith is a tough matchup. He's built like Claxton from Penn State. He does a lot of damage on the post, and he can score"