Hawkeyes Preparing for B1G Tournament

Defending Champs Refocusing After Sunday's Setback to Nebraska

Filip Rebraca was named to the All-Big Ten third team on Tuesday, which was nice, the Iowa forward said.

But Rebraca and the rest of the Hawkeyes were still bothered about Sunday’s loss to Nebraska, which cost them a double-bye at this week’s Big Ten Tournament at the United Center in Chicago.

To repeat as tournament champions, the fifth-seeded Hawkeyes will have to win four games in four days, which is the same path they took last season.

So, individual awards are cool, Rebraca said, but team trophies are more fun.

“I’m proud of myself, but I know that’s not what I play for,” Rebraca said. “I play for championships. Last year, once I got a taste of it, I can’t get enough.”

The fact that this is basically the same team as last season gives the Hawkeyes confidence, even if the 81-77 loss to the Huskers to close the regular season was another reminder of how looking ahead can cost a team in March, considering they were poised for a double-bye and a second-place finish in the conference had they won.

“I think we might have done a little bit of (looking ahead) on Sunday,” said Payton Sandfort, who was named the conference’ Sixth Man of the Year. “I don’t think we’ll make that mistake again.”

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery seemed to push all of the right buttons in the tournament last season in Indianapolis. He knows the approach the Hawkeyes need to take in Thursday’s game against either Ohio State and Wisconsin, and then whatever comes next should they win.

“Just get ready for the first time we play, and then turn the page and try to take a very businesslike and professional approach to the next game, and carry out the game plan,” McCaffery said. “As we've also talked many times, sometimes the greatest game plans don't work, so you've got to make game adjustments. That takes incredible maturity, both individually and collectively, so we'll do that. Just get the guys to play as hard as they can.

“For a situation like this, it's going to require a lot of people to help. It's going to be hard to play five or six guys, seven guys. We're going to have to play a lot of guys.”

Iowa went 5-4 in February, not like the 8-1 the Hawkeyes did last season.

“I just think it was based off momentum,” said forward Kris Murray, who was a first-team all-conference pick. “We felt like we had a lot of momentum going into the tournament even though we lost to Illinois at Illinois (in the regular-season finale).

“I think everybody on this team was clicking at the right time.”

Nobody really seems to be clicking in the Big Ten. Teams that are up can be suddenly down, and vice versa. So there is no clear favorite.

“You look at the conference standings, and there's so many teams that are very close in terms of record,” McCaffery said. “Some teams maybe match up better with others, and sometimes you look at it doesn't make sense that they beat them twice and they lost to them twice. But that's what this league is. Sometimes it comes down to you didn't make threes. Sometimes it comes down to you didn't make free throws or had more turnovers than usual. Who knows.

“This league is so good, and a lot of people say we're going to get 10 teams in. Nobody wants to play 11, 12, 13, 14 in this league. I think everybody goes down there knowing that everybody has got a shot.”

Plenty of Hawkeyes picked up individual awards in the all-conference selections. Connor McCaffery and Tony Perkins were honorable-mention selections. Patrick McCaffery was the winner of the team’s Sportsmanship Award.

“It just shows the balance we had this year, and how it took a team effort to get the wins we had this year,” Murray said.

Murray was a unanimous first-teamer, the fourth consecutive year a Hawkeye has received that honor. Luka Garza did it in 2020 and 2021, and Murray’s brother Keegan did it last season.

“It was definitely cool, just because of all the expectations I had this year,” Murray said. “Just being able to have that honor means a lot.”

Again, awards are nice. A big trophy is even better.

“Now we go play meaningful basketball,” Sandfort said.