IU’s homestretch begins on the road in Piscataway, N.J.
The Hoosiers have just four regular-season games remaining split evenly between a two-game road trip against Rutgers and Northwestern before ending against Iowa and Michigan State at home.
IU (18-8, 8-6) has struggled away from Assembly Hall this season. The Hoosiers are 2-5 in Big Ten contests in visiting arenas and will once again be the visitors Sunday at 5:15 p.m. in the Louis Brown Athletic Center.
New Jersey is as good a place as any to snap a four-game losing streak on the road. Rutgers (10-17, 2-12) beat Wisconsin by five at home Jan. 11 but hasn’t won a game since.
“I feel like we’re ready for more games,” junior forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea said. “I feel like we’re ready for those two games and we can win the rest of the games we have.”
Road struggles in the Big Ten are far from exclusive to IU. Nine of the 14 teams have losing record on the road while only Wisconsin, Michigan State and Iowa have winning records.
IU Coach Tom Crean isn’t concerned yet, but the Hoosiers will need to learn to win outside of Bloomington to make a legitimate postseason tournament run. With the Big Ten’s worst team up next followed by another bottom-dweller in Northwestern, now is a chance for IU to build consistency on the road.
Consistency is coincidentally exactly what Mosquera-Perea is looking to establish.
The 6-foot-9 big man reclaimed his starting spot in IU’s loss to Purdue on Thursday. He showed versatility on the offensive end scoring 10 points but managed just one rebound.
Mosquera-Perea’s minutes have steadily increased in his four games since returning from injury, but Crean wouldn’t commit to whether or not he will start against Rutgers.
Regardless, he’ll be part of a frontcourt charged with handling Rutgers’ frontcourt duo of Greg Lewis and Kadeem Jack. The two combined for 21 points and 10 rebounds in IU’s 72-64 home win against the Scarlet Knights Jan 31.
“I just need to be more aggressive, getting defensive rebounds, going more for offensive rebounds,” Mosquera-Perea said.
He also added that he’s still not fully back to being conditioned, but said he isn’t feeling any impairing discomfort in his knee.
“Right now, it’s not about the injury anymore,” he said. “It’s about my mentality.”
While Mosquera-Perea’s return has slightly altered the way IU plays, Crean said Rutgers hasn’t changed much since the first matchup.
IU still expects a challenge from senior guard Myles Mack, who scored 24 points against the Hoosiers three weeks ago. Twenty of those points came in the second half.
“We just can’t let him get to his spots,” freshman guard Robert Johnson said. “He’s got a couple of spots and tendencies. We’ve got to just try and keep those away from him.”
One thing solidly keeping IU in the NCAA Tournament field to this point is the absence of a “bad loss.” The worst defeat to this point has been to Big Sky-leading Eastern Washington who are No. 74 in the RPI.
A loss to Rutgers would immediately become the worst of the season. The Scarlet Knights are No. 144 in the RPI and are coming off a 34-point loss to Iowa.
Crean doesn’t allow himself to look too far ahead in the schedule at the risk of overlooking a conceivably weaker opponent like Rutgers. He said IU can’t afford to let the Scarlet Knights’ recent struggles keep the Hoosiers from keeping their minds set on picking up a much-needed road win.
“They’re a very good team,” Crean said. “You don’t play their record. You don’t play the percentages. You play the players.
“We’re going to have to play extremely well.”
