The 16th ranked Iowa Hawkeyes have one final non-conference tuneup against St. Louis University tomorrow night before opening Big Ten play next week. The Hawkeyes are 11-1 after a victory over the Air Force Academy and lost to the Billikens in last year’s NIT. They open the Big Ten race next week against Michigan. Iowa coach Steve Alford says the next two games are the two teams that last beat them in postseason play in the Big Ten tournament and the N-I-T. Former Loras College coach Brad Soderberg leads a Billiken team that has struggled to a 2-9 record after a Wednesday night loss to Southeast Missouri State. Alford says it looks like they’re searching for their identity. He says sometimes that takes a long time, sometimes it doesn’t.Soderberg worked under Dick Bennett at Wisconsin and Alford says the Billikens style will test the Hawkeyes at the defensive end. He says they’ve talked about defensive patience this whole week and being able to guard long possessions and concentrate on long defensive possessions.
