Iowa's 'tough squad' bounces back, has confidence through early Big Ten schedule

IOWA CITY - Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery knew his team was going to bounce back mentally against Michigan. After all, he had seen it before.

Iowa (11-8, 3-3 Big Ten) earlier had wiped away the stench of a non-conference slump to win five of six games stretching into Big Ten season. Then, after losing to Ohio State and Michigan State by a combined 63 points, the Hawkeyes simply learned from its mistakes, stayed focused and played with great confidence in a 75-59 thrashing of the No. 13 Wolverines on Saturday.

"It shows that we have a tough squad and guys that believe, coaches that believe and have instilled that in us and guys that want to make winning plays," Iowa senior Matt Gatens said. "That's what it takes to win games in this league."

"I knew we were going to get great effort (Saturday), but again, it's the attention to detail," McCaffery said. "Last two games what did we do, 21 turnovers in each game. You can't win. We had eight turnovers (Saturday)."

Turnovers often dictate the final result, and Iowa's Big Ten season is no exception. In Iowa's three Big Ten wins, the Hawkeyes average 10 turnovers a game. The Hawkeyes combined for 41 in their losses to Ohio State and Michigan State. In a three-point loss to Purdue - a team Iowa faces again Tuesday - the Hawkeyes had 10.

But turnovers were just one portion of Iowa's victory against Michigan. The Hawkeyes outrebounded the Wolverines by nine, held them to a 8-of-31 3-point shooting performance and made nine more free throws. Iowa weathered an early second-half Michigan run that chopped the Hawkeyes' lead to six before scoring seven straight points. Each time the Wolverines cut Iowa's lead to 11 or 12 points, the Hawkeyes answered with a basket.

That's where focus and intensity came into play Saturday, Iowa freshman Aaron White said.

"We expected to win this game, and that's how you have to go into each game," Iowa forward Aaron White said. "You can't come in here and play scared or play like you just want to hang with them. You've got to line up and know that you can beat the opponent across from you.

"Obviously we out-rebounded them and took care of the ball. Those are the keys to winning, and we did both of those."

After six games, the Hawkeyes are 3-3 in Big Ten play, a record few expected after five blowout losses in non-conference action. Each of Iowa's first seven Big Ten opponents (including Purdue twice) have won at least 13 games this year. Two of Iowa's victories - at Wisconsin, against Michigan - were against top 13 teams.

Iowa's Ratings Performance Index (RPI), which is based on wins, losses and strength-of-schedule, now sits at 100, up from 187 on Dec. 1. Iowa's strength-of-schedule sits at No. 52 nationally despite playing only one non-conference NCAA Tournament qualifier from last year. But eight of Iowa's 13 non-conference opponents have winning records to date.

"I think we've won some games that people outside of our locker room didn't expect us to win," White said. "We went to Wisconsin and won, and we went to Minnesota and we won. We had a good win here against the No. 13-ranked team (Michigan) in the country. I think the losses are still disappointing. The Purdue loss, we had that one."

Although a 3-3 Big Ten record isn't the goal, Gatens - who never has experienced a .500 league mark this late in a season - called it "positive" for the team still growing under second-year coach McCaffery.

"Every team in the Big Ten is good, but we had a grueling start, a lot of ranked teams," Gatens said. "We don't play Ohio State or Michigan State again or these guys (Michigan). So it's good to get through this part of our schedule, play some great teams and come out with some wins. We've just got to keep it going."