No. 7 Hoosiers to host Hawkeyes

Iowa coach Todd Lickliter wasn’t wearing rose-colored glasses when he looked back on IU’s 79-76 victory over his Hawkeyes on Jan. 2.\n“It was a three point game, but it wasn’t near that close,” Lickliter said during the weekly Big Ten teleconference. “We were able to shoot some three’s in at the end and make it closer than it really was.”\nThat might have been a bit of an understatement from the first-year Hawkeye coach.\nLeading by 10 points with 1:55 left on the clock, IU managed to escape a 3-point barrage from Iowa guard Justin Johnson. Johnson scored 19 of his 29 total points in the final 115 seconds, including a four-point play and a 40-foot 3-pointer, which the senior banked off the glass. After the game, Kelvin Sampson said Johnson’s shooting display of six consecutive 3-pointers reminded him of “Fourth of July fireworks.” \nSampson again praised Johnson for the once-in-a-lifetime performance he put on against the Hoosiers.\n“I don’t know what you say,” Sampson said. “Just pat him on the back and say those were great shots.”\nJohnson’s effort almost single-handedly won the game for the Hawkeyes and overshadowed a dominating defensive performance from IU during the first 18 minutes of the second half. The Hoosiers were not able to keep up with Johnson’s output at the end, missing several free throws down the stretch to keep the game alive.\n“We were trading those threes for going to the line and making one out of two (free throws) – that was not a very fair trade-off,” Sampson said. \nThe No. 7 Hoosiers (16-1, 5-0) will host Johnson and the improving Hawkeyes (9-10, 2-4) at 9 p.m today.\nFor Lickliter, who coached at Butler for the previous six seasons, the scheduling of the Big Ten is different from other conferences in which he has coached. Teams will play some conference foes twice before playing each team in the conference.\n“We played them here earlier, which is kind of unique, because I don’t know if I’ve done this before where we haven’t played the other teams and we are returning a game already,” Lickliter said.\nThe Hawkeyes will come into Assembly Hall with some confidence after winning two of its last three games, including an upset of then-No. 6 Michigan State Jan. 12. Sampson spoke about Iowa’s improvement since the last time the two teams met on his weekly radio show Monday evening, saying the Hawkeyes have done a better job of getting the guards and front court players in sync. \nPart of the improved chemistry is because of teams focusing on Johnson’s shooting, forcing other players to pick up offensive slack, Lickliter said. Johnson has hit 59 three-pointers this season, connecting on 35.8 percent of his attempts.\n“As of late, they are playing him a lot tighter, but he is opening up things,” Lickliter said. We are getting more play inside and playing off of him.”\nThe Hawkeyes will have to rely on Johnson and improved play to pull the upset against All-American candidates freshman guard Eric Gordon and senior forward D.J. White, along with the rest of the Hoosiers.