There are only two Big Ten teams Mike Woodson hasn’t defeated during has tenure as Indiana coach.
One of them, Fran McCaffery led Iowa, will be at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Tuesday evening.
McCaffery is 4-0 against Woodson. And all of the losses have been games IU fans would rather forget.
In January 2022 Indiana took an 11-point first half lead only to squander it with a very ugly second half performance. They lost 83-74 in Iowa City.
In the 2022 Big Ten Tournament semifinals, the Hawkeyes closed the game on a 15-6 run over the last 3:20, with old nemesis Jordan Bohannon banking in a three to win it, 80-77.
In a January 2023 trip to Iowa City, IU blew a 21-point lead and Race Thompson went down with a knee injury. Iowa won 91-89. McCaffery was called for a technical foul in the game before it was rescinded by the officials.
And last February, Indiana followed a big road win over Purdue at Mackey Arena with an absolute dud performance in Bloomington, losing to the Hawkeyes 90-68.
The common denominator in the four losses has been Iowa’s offense. The Hawkeyes have averaged 86 points per game in those contests.
Iowa is ranked No. 20 in the nation in offensive efficiency this year.
“Our focal point going into this game is we’ve gotta get back in transition and make them go through our half court defense,” Woodson said Monday evening on his radio show.
Meanwhile, McCaffery will be focused on slowing down Indiana’s Malik Reneau, who he referred to as “one of the best players” in the Big Ten. “You can tell that he really worked over the summer. His body’s in a great place. He’s playing with incredible confidence,” McCaffery said Monday.
McCaffery routinely threw double teams at Trayce Jackson-Davis during the four game winning streak over IU. Look for the Hawkeyes to throw zone and press looks at Indiana as well.
In case you were wondering, Woodson will welcome the other Big Ten team he has yet to defeat on Feb. 18 when Northwestern comes to Bloomington.
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