Tough early-season schedule fails to intimidate young Hawkeyes

IOWA CITY - Iowa's baptism into the Big Ten men's basketball season this year is so difficult that only two other schools nationally can commiserate with the Hawkeyes' plight.

Iowa (7-7, 0-2 Big Ten) opened league play against Illinois, Ohio State and Purdue - all teams ranked in the Associated Press' current Top 20. Only Northwestern and Notre Dame nationally boast that type of early-season schedule, yet the improving Hawkeyes don't feel even slightly daunted by their nightmare schedule.

In fact, it's the lack of victories - not the opponents - that aggravates them.

“We've got to get over that edge and start getting these games,” said sophomore Eric May, who sat out the Ohio State game with a groin injury. “We're coming close, but that's not good enough for anybody. There's no moral victories on coming close to Ohio State. You want to ge these wins. We're right there.”

The Hawkeyes lost by 10 points against No. 20 Illinois and by five against No. 2 Ohio State. Iowa coaches and players believe a few possessions could have impacted the game in their favor.

“When you're preparing for ranked opponents, when you watch them on film and they have a lot of weapons, you then want to put a game plan in that makes sense, something we can handle,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “So I think we've done a pretty good job there. Better against Ohio State than Illinois in terms of the defensive game plan.”

The Hawkeyes face their first league road test today at No. 11 Purdue (14-1, 3-0), a team that has floored Iowa in seven straight meetings. The Boilermakers have been particularly brutal against Iowa at Mackey Arena, blasting the Hawkeyes by a combined 45 points the last two years.

Based on the Hawkeyes' tough outing against Ohio State, Purdue Coach Matt Painter said his Boilermakers won't overlook Iowa despite the Boilermakers' recent success.

“They have a lot of respect for Iowa,” Painter said. “They watched them play against Ohio State. They had to be impressed. They saw how physical Iowa was, how hard Iowa played. They put themselves in position to win the game and that says a lot because Ohio State could be the best team in the country.”

Purdue has won nine straight games and boasts perhaps the nation's best tandem in guard E'Twaun Moore and forward JaJuan Johnson, who are the nation's top scoring tandem among power conferences. They average nearly 39 points a game and both were named to the Wooden Midseason Top 30 list.

Johnson averages 19.6 points and 8.5 rebounds a game and has blocked 36 shots. Moore puts up 19.3 points and grabs 5.9 rebounds. Moore leads Purdue in 3-pointers, steals and is second in assists.

Still, Iowa's players are excited to test themselves against Johnson and Moore. Although the Hawkeyes run multiple defenses, it appears freshman Melsahn Basabe will compete against Johnson and May will guard Moore in man-to-man situations.

“I hope so,” May said when asked if he'll guard Moore. “He's a good player, and it's always exciting to go and play against those guys.

“Playing against him and watching him play, he's able to score in a lot of different ways. Increasing his shooting percentage, he can really shoot from the 3 now which just adds another threat to his game. The thing you have to keep in mind is he's always looking to score. He's always ready to create.”