Wednesday Men's Basketball Quotebook: Iowa-ISU Rivalry Has Its Own Emotions
There is always an intensity to the Iowa-Iowa State men’s basketball rivalry.
Trash talk before the game, bragging after the game.
Last season's game in Iowa City had a shoving match during the game, and one as time ran out.
So it goes in the rivalry.
Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said on Wednesday that it is best to keep the emotions in check during Thursday’s game in Ames.
“You expect in a rivalry game there’s a certain level of intensity,” McCaffery said during his weekly teleconference. “We all expect it — coaches, players, fans. You’ve got to keep your composure.”
McCaffery said the Hawkeyes have already had plenty of intense games so far this season. Thursday’s game will mark the end of a six-game stretch that included two neutral-court games in Las Vegas, a road game against Syracuse, and the Big Ten opening doubleheader of Michigan on the road and Minnesota at home.
“Maybe it’s a little heightened in this game,” McCaffery said of the intensity. “But we had our first league game the other day, and that’s huge. We had our first league home game. We’re playing Texas Tech, a ranked team. There’s going to be heightened levels of intensity.
“This is an in-state rivalry game. But the critical thing to be successful is to be able to maintain your composure, not only tomorrow night, but over the course of an entire season. You’ve got to be able to control your emotions to perform at your highest level.”
Iowa won last season's game, 98-84, in Iowa City.
The Hawkeyes haven’t won at Hilton Coliseum since the 2003 NIT — an eight-game losing streak in one of the more difficult road environments Iowa will face this season. The Hawkeyes' last regular-season win at Hilton was in 2001.
“It’s going to be a great crowd,” McCaffery said. “It’s going to be an intense game.”
Time off coming
Thursday’s game will mark the sixth for Iowa in a two-week span, with only one of those games at home.
After that, the Hawkeyes are off until a Dec. 21 game against Cincinnati in Chicago. They won’t play after that game until a Dec. 29 home game against Kennesaw State before getting back into Big Ten play.
The time off between Thursday and the Cincinnati game comes during Iowa’s finals week.
It will be a good break, McCaffery said, although he admitted he would mind having some more games in that stretch.
“We’re always going to take a significant time around finals week, I think that’s important,” he said. “And after that, you’re typically getting ready for conference play again. In the short run, we’re a little banged up, we need a little time off, health-wise, but more importantly for finals. Would I want to play more often? Probably. But I’m glad we have a game before Christmas and a game after Christmas before getting back into league play.”
Redshirt freshman guard CJ Fredrick was limping at time during Monday’s 72-52 win over Minnesota as he recovers from an injured quadricep. Forward Cordell Pemsl missed the Syracuse game with a back injury and played just 18 minutes in last Friday’s game against Michigan and in Monday’s game.
Bohannon's decision
Jordan Bohannon is listed as a probable starter for Thursday’s game, which would make it his 10th game of the season.
That puts the Iowa senior guard at the limit for applying for a medical redshirt season if he decides to sit out the remaining schedule.
Bohannon is coming off offseason hip surgery. He said after Monday’s game he is still “day-to-day” on making a decision.
McCaffery said he has not spoken to Bohannon recently about the decision, but said, “I likely will some time in the next couple of days.”
