Hawkeye men go from stuck in neutral to powering into NCAA contention

IOWA CITY — Sunday’s 6 p.m. Illinois-Iowa men’s basketball game is sold out.

That would have been dog-bites-man news through much of the history of Carver-Hawkeye Arena, but it’s noteworthy this season because it’s just the Hawkeyes’ second sellout, and will be its fifth announced crowd of 10,000 or more out of this season’s in the 14,998-seat gym.

A weekend game against the No. 12 Illini is a reason, for sure. The Hawkeyes’ emergence as a cohesive, dangerous team may be a bigger one.

“Now that we’ve found our groove,” Iowa forward Patrick McCaffery said, “I think a lot of people are scared to see us.”

The Hawkeyes (18-12, 10-9 Big Ten) have won four of their last five games, with the lone loss a very competitive 95-85 Illinois triumph in Champaign. Three of the wins were of the Quad 1 variety, Wisconsin at home and Michigan State and Northwestern on the road.

“I think we figured some stuff out,” McCaffery said. “Early on in this year, it was like a major learning curve. Last year was different because we had a lot of guys who were returning.

“This year, we have four freshmen, two transfers, two new walk-ons. Like, it was a whole new group. And it took us a while, I think, to kind of figure out what was needed to win at this level.”

Iowa had been knocking on the door of being a first-division Big Ten team, but getting over .500 remained elusive until the Hawkeyes’ 87-80 win at Northwestern last Saturday.

A win over Illinois Sunday would undeniably leave Iowa in the NCAA picture entering next week’s Big Ten tourney. Not long ago, that was not on the horizon.

“You have to figure out how to win those close games if you can,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “We’ve done that recently. I’m just proud of the fight.

“The season started with kind of a new group. You typically figure it out throughout the season, combinations, some rotations that work. We’ve had some guys that really stepped up, which you have to do in this league.”

Forward Payton Sandfort and guards Josh Dix and Tony Perkins have been especially good of late. Sandfort averaged 24.5 points and eight assists over the last two games. Dix has three straight games of at least 20 points. Perkins had 14 assists at Northwestern.

“A number of guys stepping up,” said senior Iowa forward Ben Krikke, who is averaging 13 points on 64.5 percent shooting over the last four games.

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