The 60th meeting between Drake and Iowa is tonight in Carver-Hawkeye Arena and the 25th rated Hawkeyes will again be without senior point guard Jeff Horner he is recovering from a knee injury. Iowa coach Steve Alford says Horner should be back much sooner than expected. Alford says Horner is doubtful to tonight’s game and Thursday’s.
Iowa has won the last 26-games in this series but Alford says this is the best team Tom Davis has had since he took over the Bulldog program. Alford says this is the best team he’s seen Davis have. He says Drake has played some big games and this game isn’t going to shock them and they’ll be prepared for anything.
This will be the second time Davis has taken a team back to where he coached for 13-seasons. Davis says it was harder two years ago because of the emotion involved, but he says this is more straightforward.
Drake is 6-3 and Davis says the Bulldogs are making progress. He says it’s been an interesting problem how to get the program to a competitive level given the conditions that exist. He says it’s been fun, but a challenge. Davis agrees that this is his best Drake team. He says it’s not even close as he looks at the tapes from past years. Davis says they still have problem areas, but have upgraded and improved.