Iowa players say they're ready for instate road games

IOWA CITY - Ready or not, here they come.

Of its eight games this season, the Iowa men's basketball team has played seven at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The other was before a partisan Iowa audience at "neutral" Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Iowa (5-3) now gets to experience the road with instate games at Northern Iowa and Iowa State this week. True, the games are within state borders, neither will provide a welcoming environment for the Hawkeyes.

But it's something Iowa players are excited to experience.

"I actually like going on the road. I really do," Iowa sophomore Melsahn Basabe said. "I love the hostiles because I feel like that gives you a boost, that puts an extra swagger in your step because everybody's against you. Every time something goes right, it's like, 'Yeah, I'm here. The team is here. We're not here to play and nobody's going to push us around.' I think it's going to put a pep in everybody's step.

"I feel like it focuses you more as a team, more together because you know you're on the road."

TV options: Iowa at UNI, 7 p.m., Tuesday (KWWL); Iowa at Iowa State, 7 p.m., Friday (KCRG)

Iowa has not had much recent success at either instate venue. UNI (7-1) blasted the Hawkeyes 67-50 two years ago in Cedar Falls, and Iowa has lost four of its last five in Cedar Falls. Iowa has lost four straight at Iowa State (5-3).

UNI's McLeod Center boasts an intimate setting at 6,750 but the fans are close to the floor, prompting Iowa senior Matt Gatens to compare the venue to Michigan State and Illinois. The environment at Hilton Coliseum is as intense as any in the Big Ten or Big 12.

Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery acknowledged that road games can bring teams closer together. The Hawkeyes have played inconsistently recently, save for Saturday's 75-54 win against Brown. The us-against-the-world mindset has a chance to build team solidarity in the fact of vocal opposition.

"Coach mentioned that in postgame, he's excited to see go on the road and see how we compete in an environment like that," Gatens said. "It's good to get a win like this going into that; you get some confidence back. Everybody playing well, playing together, making an extra pass and playing D. Those are things you've got to do on the road. It will be a good test for us, especially an instate team, a good environment up at Cedar Falls. Hopefully we can get it done."