Battle-tested Hawkeyes playing with poise on the road

IOWA CITY — Two years ago Iowa briefly visited the nation's top 10 but failed to buy property in that high-rent district.

Close games doomed Iowa's deep and talented squad that year. Iowa, which made the NCAA tournament, was 2-8 in games decided by six points or less. Every game was competitive, but Iowa never shifted into a higher gear in clutch moments.

This Iowa squad, now ranked No. 3 by the Associated Press, learned from those shortcomings from two years ago. Nowadays, the Hawkeyes (16-3, 7-0 Big Ten) fight through challenging situations. Iowa has won six straight Big Ten road games, while its 2013-14 version lost five league road games, including its final three.

'It was a lot of things,' said Iowa senior center Adam Woodbury, who started every game that year. 'The ball didn't bounce our way. We didn't play good enough defense. We didn't score the ball well enough. A lot of things came together. We played some great teams in that stretch. A lot of things didn't go our way, but we're trying to rectify it this year.'

In the last two years combined, Iowa is 9-3 in league road games and two of its losses were in the final seconds or overtime. The Hawkeyes have won their last six straight Big Ten roadies by an average of 14 points. This year Iowa has knocked off ranked Michigan State and Purdue at their home venues. Thursday's battle with No. 8 Maryland (17-3, 6-2 Big Ten) appears to be yet another tough opponent. Yet for the Hawkeyes, it's just another game.

'We're a lot better on the road,' Iowa senior guard Anthony Clemmons said. 'That comes with experience and the guys that have been through it. We've all been through it. We know what we've got to do. When you're in a hostile environment, all you can do is stay poised.'

To get to this point, Iowa had to learn how to perform away from Iowa City. Some of it is through defeat. Most of it comes from unselfish attitudes and teamwork.

'I've said this a million times, they don't get too down on themselves after a loss or get too full of themselves after a win,' Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'You can't do that. Because you could lose three or four in a row easily in this league.'

But it takes time to learn that, right?

'Oh, absolutely,' McCaffery said. 'Now some guys do get it when they're young. They do. But it's not an easy thing. I remember three years ago when we lost all those close games. It seems we lost three that year with buzzer beaters. We had a couple buzzer beaters that didn't go in and that's frustrating. They go in against you and you don't make them. But that group kept plugging away and here we are.'

Iowa ranks seventh nationally in turnovers per game, which has spurred their road success. In Iowa's six consecutive road league victories, the Hawkeyes have committed just 56 turnovers (9.3 a game) while their opponents had 76 turnovers (12.7). In Iowa's three road Big Ten wins this year, the Hawkeyes have 26 turnovers to their opponents' 41. Two years ago, Iowa committed 68 turnovers in its five Big Ten road defeats.

'To stay poised on the road, you can only do that if you've been in those environments before,' Woodbury said. 'You guys have seen a lot of big-time recruits that come in as freshmen, it's a tough time to play on the road. It's a different environment, it's way different in high school or anything that they've ever seen before. Being in those battles before and being battle tested has been key for us.'

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