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Hawkeyes try to win a second-straight Big Ten game, against an Indiana team that is looking to make it four consecutive wins in conference play
Jan. 10, 2025 12:13 pm, Updated: Jan. 10, 2025 12:29 pm
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IOWA CITY — It’s prime-time national TV for Iowa men’s basketball Saturday, which is a good bit different from playing on nothing but a streaming service as the Hawkeyes did Tuesday.
What Fox can hope for in its 7 p.m. telecast of Indiana-Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena is more of the same from the Hawkeyes. Of Iowa the four Big Ten games Iowa has played, three weren’t decided until the final second and big comebacks were the rule.
Josh Dix made a last-second 3-pointer on Dec. 3 for Iowa to defeat Northwestern at Carver, 80-79. The Hawkeyes had lost all of a 17-point first-half lead.
Roddy Gayle Jr., scored with 4.6 seconds left as Michigan beat Iowa 85-83 four days later in Ann Arbor. Iowa had clawed back from a 16-point first-half deficit.
Tuesday at Carver, the Hawkeyes rallied from 15 points down in the second half to beat Nebraska in overtime, 97-87. Brice Williams of the Huskers made a last-second 3-pointer to force overtime before Iowa dominated the extra five minutes.
That put Iowa at 2-2 in the Big Ten, 11-4 overall. Enter Indiana (4-1, 13-3). The Hoosiers have won their last three league games, by an average of 9.3 points. It wouldn’t be shocking were they to build a lead against the Hawkeyes. Nor would it be a shock if Iowa came roaring back.
“We’ve got shotmakers, we've got intelligent decision-makers, and we're going to keep playing,” Hawkeyes Coach Fran McCaffery said Thursday.
Iowa senior forward Payton Sandfort was scoreless at halftime of the Nebraska game Tuesday. He finished with 30 points.
“He really struggled in the first half,” McCaffery said. “His second half was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen
“But I wasn't surprised by that, because I know him, and so the key is to continue to stay positive with him and with everybody else.”
McCaffery said the status of guard Drew Thelwell, who missed Tuesday’s game with a lower-body issue, was uncertain. Freshman forward Cooper Koch apparently will be out indefinitely with a health issue.
Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com
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