Gatens will play at Michigan

Iowa basketball coach Todd Lickliter said Friday that sophomore Matt Gatens will be able to play against Michigan on Saturday.

“I anticipate him going for sure,” Lickliter said during a conference call. “We did not do a lot yesterday and he was getting treatment. None of us did a lot, coming off a hard fought game. But he should be able to walk through today. He's already has shown a lot of grit.”

Lickliter does not expect Gatens, who sprained his left ankle during Wednesday's shoot-around and still played 38 minutes in the 65-57 loss to Ohio State, to be 100 percent against the Wolverines.

“He could not push off that foot (during Wednesday's loss). He really was just toughening it out,” Lickliter said. “Everybody associated with the program should appreciate a guy who goes out there and never mentions it and doesn't show any signs of shying away. He just goes out and plays.

“He'll have to manage it for a while until he can get the swelling out.”

Meanwhile, Anthony Tucker will remain on the sideline this weekend. Lickliter said the sophomore guard, who returned to practice Monday five weeks after a public intoxication arrest, will not dress for the Michigan game.

“I'm not ready to make that step yet,” Lickliter said.

Other topics covered by Lickliter on Friday:

On Michigan's 1-3-1 zone defense: “You have to get player movement, ball movement and keep probing and attacking throughout the shot clock. We have some guys that can pass it, guys who can be effective on the perimeter and hopefully we can continue to look inside against the zone. I didn't think we attacked Ohio State's zone particularly well.”

On playing better lately:  ”(This is) the progress you hope to make because you have invested in practice and  learned lessons in the games. It's what you would hope for a team. We keep trying to grow into a good team. This league is so good. I'm hoping what we're doing is growing.  You never know. Every day is a new day and every opponent is different. It's the task at hand. Michigan is really good. We'll need to play well.”

On finishing off opponents: (Ohio State) made big shots, made big plays. There is a reason why they are ranked in the Top 25 of the nation. We talked about being able to maintain an aggressiveness in that situation and what could we have done to finish it. There were a lot of positives and it was very disappointing not to be able to finish that game.”