Licking their wounds from a pair of embarrassing losses, the Iowa Hawkeyes return home to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for their Big Ten home opener against the Michigan Wolverines.
Hopefully, a Carver return is just what the doctor ordered. Iowa (5-4) trailed by as many as 35 points in an eventual 87-68 loss at No. 4 Purdue on Monday. Then, on Thursday, Iowa State built a 32 point lead in a 90-65 loss in Ames.
As the Hawkeyes get back to Iowa City, back-to-back blowout losses have Iowa doing some soul-searching.
“As a brother, as a friend, you just help each other through that. Everybody deals with it. It’s kind of part of life. You guys deal with it in what you do every day. We’ve just got to continue to keep going to work, continue to keep loving each other. If we stick together, the season’s going to turn out how we want it to,” junior forward Payton Sandfort said.
Iowa head men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery is hoping his Hawkeyes can get back to better ball movement.
“We didn’t get enough movement whether it be ball movement or people movement. You have to give your opponent credit defensively. They were working hard. We missed some guys, but we have to do more screening, more cutting, and more penetration. We just kind of moved it side to side and somebody shot at the end of the clock. We need more activity to challenge the defense in a better way,” McCaffery said.
Meanwhile, Michigan (4-5) enters losers of three straight. The Wolverines lost on Nov. 24 to Texas Tech, 73-57, at Oregon on Dec. 2, 86-83, in overtime and versus Indiana on Tuesday, 78-75. Michigan also fell versus Long Beach State, 94-86, on Nov. 17 and versus Memphis on Nov. 22, 71-67.
The Wolverines own wins over UNC Asheville (99-74), Youngstown State (92-62), St. John’s (89-73) and Stanford (83-78).
In need of a win to turn their recent fortunes around, here’s how Hawkeye fans can tune in and watch, stream and listen to Iowa take on Michigan. Plus, a look at each team’s probable starters and game notes.