No rest, short preparation, tough task for Iowa Hawkeyes at Ohio State

IOWA CITY — So you have a gut-wrenching home defeat on Thursday night, and recover from it by playing one of the Big Ten’s best men’s basketball teams on the road Saturday afternoon?

It’s a lot easier said than done, eh? That didn’t stop Iowa’s head coach and players from emitting optimism after their 84-79 loss to Michigan Thursday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

We’ll see how the power of positive thinking pays off Saturday afternoon at Value City Arena in Columbus when the Hawkeyes play the 18th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Who, by the way, happen to have as few losses (four) in Big Ten play as anyone.

And, they have junior forward E.J. Liddell, perhaps as good a candidate for Big Ten Player of the Year and perhaps even National Player of the Year as anyone.

“I’m excited for the matchup,” said another Big Ten POY candidate, Iowa sophomore forward Keegan Murray. “They’re a really good team. They have a lot of really good players that can beat you on both sides of the basketball.”

Murray missed an open 3-pointer with 17 seconds left that would have tied the Michigan game. He had 23 points, and battled leg cramps. He missed several close-in shots he normally makes.

Now Murray and his mates contend with Liddell and his. Like Murray, Liddell does just about everything well. Last Feb. 28, the Hawkeyes trounced Ohio State in Columbus, 73-57. This time, there will be fans.

“It’s a tough place to play,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “They’re playing really well, at a high level. It’s another opportunity for us.”

Iowa hasn’t defeated a ranked team this season. It’s projected as an NCAA tournament team right now, but its seeding won’t be too fantastic if it doesn’t pick off a Top 25 team or two between now and the end of the Big Ten tournament.

“We’ve just got to stay positive,” Iowa senior guard Jordan Bohannon said after Thursday’s contest. “It’s my job, it’s Keegan’s job, it’s Connor’s (McCaffery) job to keep this team levelheaded.

“I know this team is going to stay positive. We’ve been through so much already this year. It’s hard to imagine that a game like this that we let slip away is going to falter us. We’re going to continue to fight.”

Their coach’s stance is never to make any situation seem overly daunting. This one, though, is reminiscent of the one his team had in last year’s NCAA tournament. Iowa beat Grand Canyon in the first round on a Saturday night, then got walloped by Oregon on the following Monday afternoon.

The difference is, this time the Hawkeyes are traveling between games.

“We practice at noon (Friday), get on a plane, and go,” McCaffery said.

This game was rescheduled after a Feb. 3 postponement because of nasty weather in Ohio.

“We had a couple days to get ready for them last time,” said McCaffery, “so we’ve already introduced them.”

The trick for the Hawkeyes is to do what Murray said they must.

“Obviously, we keep fighting,” he said. “In the Big Ten you’re going to lose games. Just push past it and move on to the next game.”

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