Since the last time it met with Iowa, the IU men's basketball team has looked like a completely different squad.
The Hoosiers (12-11, 3-7) were shellacked 91-77 in Iowa City on Jan. 23, a game that featured little defense and even less mental and physical toughness. It sparked something inside them, though, as they are winners of two out of their last three - both wins coming against top-20 opponents.
A shot at redemption against against the Hawkeyes (9-13, 2-8) comes Saturday in a 4 p.m. tipoff on ESPN2.
History
Although the meeting in January now looks like an anomaly on the 2010-11 season, it wasn't one in the recent history between the two schools. Iowa has won four out of the last five meetings with IU, including the last three decisions by double digits. IU leads the all-time series 94-72.
Player to watch - IU: Tom Pritchard, junior forward
Coming off his best game of the year, a "Space Jam" kind of performance, Pritchard is riding high. He's been featured on ESPN, Deadspin and has been trending worldwide on Twitter.
But it wasn't too long ago he was one of the team's goats.
After the loss against Iowa, IU coach Tom Crean said Pritchard's leadership left something to be desired. He had as many points (4) as fouls in the game, and the Hawkeyes blasted down the lane for easy points all day.
If the Hoosiers are going to win this time, they will need the Pritchard they saw against Minnesota, both offensively and defensively.
With sophomore forward Christian Watford still out, there is a major void in the post for IU. Though there isn't a large post threat on the Hawkeyes, Pritchard's big body will need to be in full force to stop the Iowa drives.
Player to watch - Iowa: Roy Devyn Marble, freshman forward
Four players scored in double digits for Iowa in the last meeting, but only Marble reached the 20-point plateau. He added 10 rebounds, two of them offensive, in his best game of his first season.
The fear going into the game was with junior guard Matt Gatens and his long-distance shooting, but as mentioned previously, it was slashing and dunking by nearly all Hawkeyes players that did the Hoosiers in.
The IU defense - and especially its transition defense - has vastly improved. If it can hold the Hawkeyes to the perimeter, it would keep Marble out of his comfort zone and away from another big afternoon.
Numbers game - 55.6:
The average amount of points IU has given up in it's last three home games, all wins. By contrast, the Hoosiers gave up 91 - the second-most this season - in the loss at Iowa.
What they're saying - Junior guard Matt Roth on using the last Iowa game as motivation
"We know we went up there and didn't play very well, and we came back and went right back to work and had a good week of preparation and I think came out and showed that against Illinois. We've kind of had a good stretch here where we're playing really good basketball, and we don't want to fall back into any bad habits. We want to keep building on what we're doing and make sure that we continue to get better every single day"
