The Iowa Hawkeyes open the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis on Thursday against Michigan. The tenth seeded Hawkeyes finished the regular season race at 4-14 ion league play and these teams met just last week in Lansing. The Spartans pulled away in the second half for a 19 point win.
Iowa coach Fran McCaffery says he doesn’t think it makes any difference for either team, as they have just played and know each other well, but its a new game. McCaffrey plans to use more of his bench on Thursday. Only eight Hawks played in last week’s loss. He says that didn’t appear to be a good decision as they started to wear down, and they will try to change that.
Michigan State is 17-13 on the season and needs some wins to boost its NCAA Tournament hopes.