IU Coach Tom Crean described No. 4 Iowa as an unselfish team.
He described the Hawkeyes as physical — they haven’t lost a rebounding battle once this season — and he even called some of their freshmen veteran players.
They also have eight to 10 players who can cause problems for the Hoosiers.
“You can’t just get ready for one or two guys with the best teams in the league,” Crean said.
Iowa comes to Assembly Hall tonight. It’s the beginning of IU’s toughest stretch of the season, which continues Sunday against No. 8 Michigan State and next Saturday with No. 18 Purdue.
Jared Uthoff leads the Hawkeyes with 18.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
He and Peter Jok, who averages 15.5, carry the bulk of Iowa’s scoring.
But Crean said it’s going to take a lot more than just defending those two.
Iowa has started the same five guys in all but one game this season; it’s that kind of consistency that is difficult to prepare for.
“They’re not putting anybody out on the court that can’t play at a high level,” Crean said. “They’re deep for a reason.”
Of all the strengths of Iowa, Crean said he doesn’t think there’s enough said about their length.
It allows them to cover a lot of ground, not have to over help on defense and play a mix of different defenses: man-to-man, zone and press.
Iowa’s length also plays on turnovers, one of the Hoosiers’ biggest weaknesses.
They’re averaging 14.5 of them so far this season. On Saturday against Penn State, IU gave up 19 points off giveaways in the Nittany Lions’ 68-63 upset of the then-No. 22 Hoosiers.
Crean said against Iowa, there will be emphasis on spacing the floor well, reversing the ball frequently and looking for the best passing angles.
“They really make it hard for you to get it into the middle,” Crean said. “And because of length, they make it hard for you to score.”
While IU opened its conference schedule with a perfect 7-0 record, so did Iowa — and they did it with a tougher schedule.
During that stretch, they beat then-No. 1 Michigan State and defeated the Boilermakers twice.
The Hawkeyes’ only Big Ten loss was a close one to No. 2 Maryland.
Sophomore guard Robert Johnson said preparing for Iowa’s depth hasn’t been much different from other games because they always try to go in ready for several strong players.
But Iowa’s size will likely prove to be problematic for IU. It’s the top offensive rebounding team in the league and second in scoring defense.
“They have a lot of length, a lot of size,” senior forward Max Bielfeldt said. “They haven’t been outrebounded in the Big Ten yet. I think it’s going to be a challenge for us.”
