The Monday Tipoff: Hawkeyes Get Back On Difficult Big Ten Road

The survivors in the carnage that is the Big Ten standings this season are going to be the ones who can string together the most road wins.

It’s rather Captain Obvious to say that, but this season is different than most.

Just ask Michigan State, at the top of the league but coming off a 29-point thumping at Purdue on Sunday.

Or Maryland, which lost by 18 points at Iowa on Friday night. The Terrapins have three losses overall this season, two in the Big Ten — and all are on the road.

Illinois is in second place in the Big Ten, primarily because the Illini won at Wisconsin last Wednesday.

The Badgers are tied for third despite that home loss because they’ve won at Ohio State and Penn State.

It’s something Iowa and coach Fran McCaffery learned last Tuesday, when the Hawkeyes played on the road against an under-.500 Nebraska team and made just 4-of-33 3-point attempts in a 76-70 loss.

They’ll go to Northwestern on Tuesday night. The Wildcats are 6-9 overall, 1-4 in the Big Ten.

“I just think the benefit is always for the home team,” McCaffery said on his Monday teleconference. “I think we all know it’s difficult, I don’t care where you go. The percentages are going to be against you when you go on the road.”

Road teams are 5-32 in Big Ten games so far this season, so the percentages certainly aren’t good.

The Hawkeyes had four road wins in the Big Ten last season, including a 73-63 victory at Northwestern on a night when they were without leading scorer Tyler Cook.

They will go to Evanston short-handed again, with three scholarship players — Jordan Bohannon, Jack Nunge and Patrick McCaffery — unavailable and a fourth — guard CJ Fredrick — questionable.

“It’s one of those things where you just play the game, try to execute with what we have against what they have,” Fran McCaffery said.

Iowa is 2-2 on the road this season, winning at Iowa State and Syracuse.

“You have to have a certain toughness and a certain mentality that we’re going to be connected and follow the game plan, that we support each other and do the best we can to play well,” McCaffery said.

The Hawkeyes are used to playing away from home — they played just two home games from Nov. 24-Jan. 10, a span of 10 games. After Tuesday, they get three consecutive games at home.

Getting a win at Northwestern means beating some of those percentages.

Fredrick’s status

McCaffery said Fredrick is still “day-to-day” with the stress reaction in his left foot.

Fredrick was in a walking boot last week, but McCaffery said he was able to get shots up during Sunday’s practice.

Fredrick sat out all of last season as a redshirt. Asked if sitting out now is difficult, McCaffery said, “Yeah, it’s hard on him. He’s trying to do some things, see how it feels. He shot a little bit yesterday, didn’t do much. We’ll see how he is tomorrow.”

That day-to-day status is something that McCaffery expects to continue.

“Yeah, I think he’ll come back some point,” McCaffery said. “If it’s Tuesday … it’s literally day-to-day. If it’s a bad day, he won’t (play). He has good days and then if he does play, we’ll see where it goes from there.

“It’s just going to be like that the rest of the season.”