(Photo Credit: Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com)
The Hoosiers will travel back home to Bloomington and face the Iowa Hawkeyes for the first time this season as they near the close of the regular season.
Indiana is back on track. Now, no one predicted this level of highs and lows to the season, but this is a great sign to see what the team is capable of accomplishing when they are healthy. Having Davis and Green back on the team proved to be essential to a Hoosier victory against one of the highest ranked teams in the nation, the #6 Spartans who are now on a 2 game skid after falling to Indiana and Purdue and without Langford. Despite these two losses, MSU is still ranked #4 on Kenpom, and the Hoosier victory will be crucial come March and Selection Sunday.
As we tend to favor flying under the radar, being under the College Gameday spotlight helped the Hoosiers play comfortably against the heavily favored Spartans. Against the Hawkeyes, ESPN will be covering the game this Thursday.
Iowa had a season-changing win of their own last week against Michigan. This game played at Hawkeye-Carver and Iowa cruised to a victory after the 10 minute mark in the first half and never trailed afterwards. The team looked solid and efficient while holding Michigan to a season low 0.81 points per possession. Michigan struggled to keep up with the production of the Iowa bench who outscored the Wolverines 24-3 and proved to be a major factor in their victory.
Iowa has continued to be a unrelenting force in the deep Big Ten this year. Taking down the giants (Michigan, Nebraska) and their worst loss is against a pesky Minnesota team that could turn some heads as the conference play wraps up. They have relied on crisp execution and a roster that is strong front to back with key contributors on their bench such as Ryan Kreiner who put up a key 15 point game against Michigan. They have bigger bigs than Indiana, and just as many top 100 high school recruits as the Hoosiers.
We expect them to continue this trend and keep up with the Hoosiers Thursday. Expect a lot of overpowering down low if Morgan is absent as two of their starters are taller than 6’9″ and we only have bench players that crack into the 6’10” range, Fitzner, Moore and Davis. If Morgan is forced out this game, who will we see match up against Luka who has been playing at an elite level lately? Could we see Race Thompson with some playing time this game especially if we are Morgan-less?
