The last time IU men’s basketball played Iowa, it pulled off the team’s biggest upset of the season and one of head coach Archie Miller’s biggest wins in his four years in Bloomington. It was a statement win for the Hoosiers, who were coming off a late-game collapse in which they fell to in-state rival Purdue 81-69 the week before.
The Hoosiers enter Sunday’s game in a similar situation, following a Tuesday loss to No. 12 Illinois. IU will face No. 8 Iowa at noon Sunday in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
On Tuesday, the Hoosiers seemed to be in control with under five minutes remaining before the Illini went on a run to force overtime and ultimately stave off the upset bid with a 75-71 win.
IU hasn’t been happy with its performance down the stretch in late-game losses this season, but the team knows wins will follow closely behind if it can limit its mistakes, sophomore guard Armaan Franklin said Saturday.
“It’s just little plays that ultimately decide the outcome,” Franklin said. “We can fix those plays and make even more plays, and it comes down to five or six plays a game where if we make the play it changes the game.”
In the teams’ first matchup, it was IU’s defense that carried them to victory. In the second half, the Hoosiers held the Hawkeyes without a field goal for 11 minutes as the team pulled away. IU shut down senior guard Jordan Bohannon who went scoreless in the game — despite playing 33 minutes — and allowed junior guard Joe Wieskamp to score just 1 point in the second half.
“We pressured them pretty heavily and didn’t need that much help over our screens,” Franklin said. “Just being a tight-knit group and being in our gaps, I think that was one of our best performances of the year just being in the gaps in hopes to help each other out.”
The only player who had consistent success against IU the last time these two teams played was senior forward Luka Garza, finishing with 28 points and 12 rebounds.
Despite the statistical production Garza had in the game, IU produced one of the best defensive performances against Garza this season. Following the game, Miller joked about how hard it is to stop the Blue Ribbon Preseason Player of the Year saying, “I like to think we made him work for it.”
To beat Iowa, IU must limit the contributions from the four other players on the court and force Garza to beat them himself. But similarly, the recipe for beating the Hoosiers is to focus on stopping sophomore forward Tracye Jackson-Davis and force the four players surrounding him to beat them as well.
Jackson-Davis finished with 23 points and seven rebounds in the Jan. 21 win over the Hawkeyes, but it was his supporting cast that pulled the team over the finish line. Junior guard Rob Phinisee had his best game of the season scoring 18 points, while fellow guards senior Al Durham and Franklin scored 14 and 11 points, respectively.
If IU is going to complete the season sweep, it will have to count on those around Jackson-Davis to contribute heavily on both offense and defense. It’s unlikely to hold the top-ranked offensive team in the country without a bucket for 11 minutes twice in a season, so the Hoosiers will need to use everything at their disposal to knock off the Hawkeyes once again.
If the Hoosiers want to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season, Tuesday’s loss to the Illini has to be pushed aside as the team’s entire focus now rests on the Hawkeyes.
“Most important game is going to be the next game so can’t dwell on losses,” Franklin said. “Got to look back at it, see what you did, go into practice and work on those things trying to improve and prepare for the next team. And you know, just try to be ready for the next game. I don't have time to dwell over these losses.”
