Pre-game notes on Iowa-Ohio State

Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery talked Friday about trying to stop Ohio State sophomore All-American Jared Sullinger, who scores 16.4 points a game and grabs 9.7 rebounds.

It's not just his scoring ability that makes him difficult to defend, McCaffery said.

"He's arguably the best passing big man in the game," McCaffery said. "He's fabulous. He's seen it a lot, so he's gotten really good at it. He's worked on it. They spread you. But they got shooters.

"You can double-team anybody and get the ball out of his hands, but the question then becomes: What do you do from there? For us, we've got to rotate and do two things: contain penetration and contest shooters, which is very difficult which you're spread out like that."

A couple early notes before today's game:

• Iowa officials expect today's Iowa-Ohio State game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena to sell out. It would be Iowa's first sellout since Dec. 30, 2010 when Iowa faced Illinois in the Big Ten opener. The previous sellout before that game was March 1, 2008, also against Illinois.
• Iowa players are wearing gold uniforms instead of the usual white uniforms.
• Iowa will celebrate the silver anniversary of the 1986-87 squad on Feb. 4 against Penn State. The team will wear the old-school script "Iowa" uniforms that game.