Hawkeye Basketball: Maybe not a must win, but sure needed

IOWA CITY - The Big Ten saddled Iowa with five ranked opponents in its first six league games. With a young team and a new coach, it was hardly unexpected that the Hawkeyes would finish that string 0-6.

On paper, Iowa (7-11, 0-6 Big Ten) gets a reprieve the next three games. Indiana is in town today, then Iowa travels to Penn State and Michigan. None of the three is ranked and all have losing records in the Big Ten. But there's also a danger that Iowa could step on the court and expect wins follow.

“I think we're going to practice hard the next couple of days to avoid something like that,” junior Matt Gatens said Friday. “We know Indiana is a great opponent, and they're in our league. We've played them before real tough. We know what they're all about. They're definitely an opponent that we respect.”

The Hoosiers (10-9, 1-5 Big Ten) are still recovering from a disastrous 2007-08 campaign in which Coach Kelvin Sampson was fired and all but two players (who combined for 1.6 points per game) left the program. Indiana won one Big Ten game in 2008-09 and lost both games against Iowa last year. Iowa's 58-43 win at Indiana is the Hawkeyes' only road Big Ten win the last three seasons.

There's much at stake for both programs. Gatens said he doesn't want to call today's game a must win, “but it's one we definitely need.”

“We're in need of a win after the little slide we're on right now, this slump,” he said.