The Iowa Hawkeyes bid for their third straight Big Ten victory tonight at home when they take on Minnesota,. The Hawks are 2-1 in conference play after a win at Penn State while the Gophers have struggled in an 0-3 start to league play. Iowa coach Steve Alford says Minnesota will bounce back he just hopes it is not tonight. He says the Gophers are a very good basketball team and his team is going to have to play well. Alford says that’s the case with every game, they can’t have a below average performance and win.
Alford says it does not matter what the records are you need to play well to win in the Big Ten. He says it’s the number one league in the country and Alford says every team they play is capable of beating them and he says his team is capable of beating every team they play.
Alford says every game poses a challenge for his Hawkeyes as he says this game starts a five-week grind. Alford says they split with Minnesota last year and both teams return a lot of players.
Minnesota coach Dan Monson says his team has a ways to go to become competitive in the Big Ten. He says they were confident two weeks ago, but he says the loses recently have taken away some of the confidence. Monson says the Gophers have not been shooting the ball well and it has affected other areas of the game.
Iowa is 13-4 overall. Minnesota is 9-5.