Iowa Hawkeyes
Current record: 9-19 (3-12)
Current RPI: 193
Current Sagarin: 168
Current Pomeroy: 147
2008-09 record: 15-17 (5-13)
2008-09 RPI: 121
2008-09 Sagarin: 81
2008-09 Pomeroy: 91
Series: IU leads 94-70
Last Iowa win: 1/24/2010 (58-43 in Bloomington)
Last IU win: 2/4/2009 (68-60 in Bloomington)
Last IU win in Iowa City: 1/2/208 (79-76)
Pomeroy scouting report
TV: 6 pm, BTN
It's easy to forget that barely more than a month ago, IU's season looked halfway promising. At that point, despite some ugly nonconference losses and the Maurice Creek injury, IU was 3-3 in the Big Ten, had narrowly missed a win against Illinois, and was on a two game winning streak that included IU's first road win of the Crean era (at Penn State) and an upset of a tournament contender (Minnesota). Unfortunately, the Iowa game began a nine-game losing streak that continues to this day and began a run of seven blowout losses in that nine-game stretch. Unfortunately, IU lost that game, badly, despite a less-than-excellent performance by Iowa. Here's what I said in my brief wrapup:
I knew a loss was possible. And Iowa win wasn't any bigger an upset than IU's recent wins over Minnesota and Penn State. Still, I didn't think IU was bad enough to be dominated by a 7-12 Iowa team that didn't even play that well. I don't mean to poor-mouth the Hawkeyes: they did some things very well. Most conspicuously, the Hawkeyes rebounded 18 of their 31 misses. IU had only 13 defensive rebounds. I can accept that something like this could happen this season against Michigan State or Purdue. I can't accept it against Iowa. Still, Iowa shot only 47 percent from the field and had 21 turnovers to IU's 16.
Amazingly, Matt Gatens remains the only active Hawkeye in double figures. As for the Hoosiers:
One need not look at the tempo-free stats to see the inefficiency in this offense. IU's top six active scorers are shooting below 40 percent. Tom Pritchard is shooting 60 percent from the field but only 36 percent from the line and is rapidly entering Steve Sax territory at the line (Google it, kids). It's an ugly line, except for the guy at the top.
And now, the promised headlines:
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Iowa men's basketball: Devan Bawinkel set for last home game(The Des Moines Register)
"The lone senior on the roster, Bawinkel will play the final home game of his college career Sunday when Iowa hosts Indiana. Bawinkel will be honored in a pregame ceremony." -
Crean pushes Hoosiers to finish strong (The News-Sentinel - Fort Wayne IN)
"The Hoosiers are struggling, reeling, collapsing and Tom Crean has had enough. He's voice is in tatters. He's eyesight is worsening. His sleep is, well, who has time to sleep or eat when there is a program to rebuild, a tradition to restore, a nine-game losing streak to end." -
Indiana men’s basktball looks to beat Iowa, end nine-game losing streak (The Courier-Journal)
"Crean said there's no question in his mind that his players overlooked Iowa the first time the teams met. Since that game, the Hawkeyes dropped seven of eight games." -
AL HAMNIK: Crean, IU fans play the waiting game (NWI Times)
"What it looks like to me is those two losses to Illinois (72-70) and Purdue (78-75), back to back, just sucked everything out of them," said Dakich, now a fixture on the Big Ten Network. "They lost confidence and a little bit of hope. It happens even at the pro level." -
Hoosiers are 'tired of losing' (Evansville Courier & Press)
But in front of 16,078 at Assembly Hall, the Hawkeyes battered the Hoosiers. Iowa not only won 58-43, it dominated rebounding 39-23 (including 18 offensive) and limited IU to 16-of-45 shooting with an astonishingly low three assists. "This all came down to our lack of willingness to be in a fight today," IU coach Tom Crean said afterward. -
Hoosiers take long look at themselves (Post-Tribune)
"Indiana lost its ninth consecutive game Thursday and has been spending a lot of time since the loss in the film room. Rather than focus on Iowa, IU coach Tom Crean wants his players to focus on themselves, and take a good, long look at the way they played during a 32-point blowout to No. 19 Wisconsin."