IU opens Big Ten play against No. 22 Iowa in Assembly Hall in a clashing of the two highest scoring teams in the Big Ten on Thursday at 7 p.m.
The Hoosiers (13-0) are off to the best start in program history and are the only remaining undefeated Big Ten team entering conference play. IU is coming off of a 62-55 road win against Xavier on Sunday in a game that saw the Hoosiers keep their lead in double digits for most of the game.
Iowa is riding a two game winning streak that saw the Hawkeyes pick up wins against Drake 73-51 and most recently North Dakota 88-62. The game against Iowa is the first of two consecutive matchups against ranked Big Ten opponents with the Hoosiers traveling to play Purdue next Monday.
"I think Iowa is playing as well as anyone in our league, maybe the best in our league," IU Coach Curt Miller said. "So your reward for going 13-0 is starting off with back-to-back ranked teams in Iowa and Purdue so we know January is awaiting for us and it's not going to be easy."
If the statistics hold true, the game should be high scoring. Iowa leads the Big Ten in scoring at 82.6 points per game, and IU is second in the conference in scoring at 78.3 points per game.
Five Iowa players are averaging double-figure points per game which is due, in part, to the Hawkeyes averaging a Big Ten best 7.7 made 3-pointers per game. Junior guard Melissa Dixon leads scoring for Iowa with 15.2 points per game. She is joined by junior guard Samantha Logic who leads the Big Ten in assists with 6.9 assists per game while adding 14.2 points per game and a team best 6.4 rebounds per game.
Iowa leads the All-Time Series 45-15 and have won the previous seven games, including three at Assembly Hall. In the most recent game, Iowa defeated IU 75-70 in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Although IU has the better record, Miller called the Hoosiers the underdog, a characteristic he believes the team will take in stride.
"It's going to be fun," Miller said. "We've been favored in a few of these nonconference games, it's always fun to be the underdog and you get to go lay it on the line and see what happens"
