The Iowa Hawkeyes will need an upset of sixth ranked Illinois at home to avoid another 0-2 start to the Big Ten race. The Hawks opened the league race with a lopsided loss at Wisconsin on Thursday night while the Illini are off to an unbeaten start and downed Michigan State Thursday in their conference opener. Iowa coach Steve Alford says the play of Dee Brown has helped the Illini overcome the loss of some key players off last year’s national runner-up team.
Alford says Brown has done a great job of going from off guard to point guard and says Brown is a vocal leader. He says the results have been the same to this point even though the Ilini have some new faces. Alford says the team is bigger at times and the young guys have been making shots.
Illinois coach Bruce Weber says his team is winning in different ways this year. He says they don’t have the scoring weapons they have last year and have had to rely more on defense. Iowa is 11-4 overall.