Iowa coach Fran McCaffery says he has stayed positive in the wake of Saturday’s thumping at the hands of sixth ranked Ohio State. The Buckeyes blew the game open in the second half in a 76-47 win in Iowa City. “that was as low as we have been in terms of our performance, we’ve had a couple of other ones this year that were not good,” McCaffery says. He says it’s the responsibility of the coaches to break that film down and teach, and not blame, so the team gets better.
The Hawkeyes hit the road for Tuesday night’s game at nationally ranked Michigan State. “I think we’ll play better, I think we’ll need to was we play one of the better teams in the country,” McCaffery says. The Hawks have handled the road well in Big Ten play with victories at Wisconsin and Minnesota.
“A lot of times that is a function of the individuals, but a lot of times the experience of your players,” He says. The Spartans are 3-0 in the Big Ten after a victory over Wisconsin last Tuesday and they have won 16 straight games at home against the Hawks. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo says he is not concerned about his team overlooking Iowa as they have great respect for Wisconsin and what Iowa did in beating them.
Izzo says the Hawks have made big strides this season. “I think we’ll be ready to play and win or lose it won’t be for lack of respect or getting our players up, it will be because they played better than us,” Izzo says.
Iowa is 2-2 in the Big Ten and 10-7 overall.