Iowa fans looking for a little payback

IOWA CITY - Carver-Hawkeye Arena provides a strong home-court advantage for Iowa basketball, yet when the arena is full, the team has struggled to pull out wins.

Many of the program's most-excruciating losses the last two years have come with a full house. In Iowa's last eight home games with more than 15,000 in attendance, the Hawkeyes are 2-6. The home-court gut punches are numerous the last two seasons.

Last year there was the overtime loss to then-No. 6 Michigan State and the battle with No. 16 Wisconsin, in which the Hawkeyes failed to hold a lead with one minute remaining. Illinois drilled a 3-pointer with .3 seconds left to beat Iowa on senior night.

Those struggles didn't end with last year's calendar. This year Iowa State battered Iowa with a fierce second-half barrage. The Hawkeyes led Michigan State by 11 points at halftime last week, only to lose by 14.

Iowa (12-5, 3-1 Big Ten), which is tied for the league lead in the loss column with four other schools, has won all three of its true road games. The Hawkeyes popped ranked opponents North Carolina and Ohio State (14-4, 3-2 Big Ten), who Iowa plays Saturday, away from Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Tuesday, Iowa withstood a 21-point turnaround but rallied to beat longtime rival Minnesota at Williams Arena.

So how can a team win at tough road environments, yet continuously fall short at one of the nation's loudest home atmospheres? Iowa senior Aaron White has his theory.

'You definitely want to play well in front of your home crowd,” Iowa senior Aaron White said. 'I think in a couple of those games, we have a tendency to rely on the crowd. When we make a run and they're really into it and we're playing really well and then when they make a couple of shots and it's not as loud in here, we don't play quite as sound, which you can't really do that. So hopefully we'll just put a complete game together, and it would be a big win for everybody, us included.”

That speaks to mental toughness. After Iowa surrendered a double-digit halftime lead against Michigan State, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas told viewers, 'I think Iowa is a good basketball team, and I think this is a good program. Fran McCaffery and his staff do a great job, but this is the kind of game that Iowa needs to win to move to the next level as a program.”

As the stature of Iowa's program has grown from the four consecutive losing seasons to three straight postseason appearances, the players recognize fans' expectations are higher, too.

'I think a little bit is that what we've done in the past - at least the last few recent years - is they expect us to win every home game,” Iowa point guard Mike Gesell said. 'Whether we're playing a ranked team, we're kind of expected to win. I feel like that's what our fan base expects. So it's a little bit different in the sense that they're not going to rush the court or anything like that. But they come excited, and they really are excited to watch us play.

'It's fun going out there to play in front of a sellout crowd like it will be.”

Iowa's students are back on campus, Iowa has reached sellout status for the second time this season and 13th time in the last two seasons. The marketing staff is in full force with a gold-colored theme, which backfired last year against Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin. But this time might be different. This year might be different. This game might be different.

The fans' desire for victory? That remains the same. But they're also looking for a little payback, too.

'I think they really enjoy what coach has done here and how we play and the passion we have for the game, and you'll see that Saturday,” White said. 'It's going to be crazy in here. Hopefully we'll give them a good show and play a good game for them.”

And who knows? They might just rush the floor ... if Iowa wins.

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