The Iowa Hawkeyes return to action at home Thursday night against eighth-ranked Illinois. The Hawkeyes are 12-2 overall after opening Big Ten play with a one-point victory at Penn State. Iowa coach Steve Alford says the best trait his team has shown is the ability to win close games and he feels part of that is attitude. He says they’re young and new, but are learning to win.Alford says that trend will need to continue. He says this team will be in tight games all year, as they aren’t good enough yet to run away from people. But, he says they are good enough to keep other teams from running away from them.Alford admits the Hawkeyes have gotten some breaks in some close games. He says the breaks seem to even out year to year and some of the breaks come because kids are playing hard.
