Fran McCaffery

Iowa has never been known for defense under Fran McCaffery but even the coach is surprised by how much the Hawkeyes have struggled to slow down their opponents. Iowa is last in the Big Ten in defense and it is not even close. The Hawkeyes are yielding nearly 85 points per game heading into tonight’s visit to Michigan.

“I thought with our size and our length we would be better than we are”, said McCaffery. “We are continuing to work to shore up those areas and the guys are really trying to get better.”

McCaffery says the Hawkeyes will need to do a better job of defending the three pointer than they did in a 75-68 loss at home to Wolverines back in early January.

“We lost by seven last time and we gave them 11 threes”, added McCaffery. “You can’t give up 11 threes.”

Iowa is 3-11 in the Big Ten. Michigan is 9-5.