Iowa Hawkeyes guard Carter Kingsbury (14) and Iowa Hawkeyes forward Payton Sandfort (20) stand together as free throws are shot against the Washington Huskies Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025 at Carver-Hawkeye Arenain Iowa City, Iowa. / Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
It has not been the season that head coach Fran McCaffery and the Iowa Hawkeyes wanted. Yes, they're coming off a feel-good win over Washington, but the Hawks are still 15-12 and 6-10 in Big Ten play. As it stands, they're 13th in the conference.
Iowa's only chance at making the NCAA Tournament is by winning the auto-bid given to the winner of the Big Ten Tournament, but first they need to make it to Indianapolis. That means Iowa has to finish in the Top 15 of the Big Ten rankings. With just four games left, that makes every win the Hawks can get crucial.
On paper, that's bad news for the Hawkeyes with a road game at 17-11 (9-8 Big Ten) Illinois coming up. The Hawkeyes have won only one road game all season (at Rutgers) and Illinois is currently riding a three-game losing streak heading to this one. The Illini have lost to three ranked teams in a row in Michigan State, Wisconsin and Duke.
From the Illini perspective, that would make this game against the Hawkeyes the ultimate "get right" game on their home court in Champaign. From Iowa's perspective, though, McCaffery's squad has the chance to lay the ultimate trap
Illinois has to feel comfortable as far as making the Big Ten tournament is concerned -- ranked seventh in the conference heading into this game -- but the Illini have a brutal schedule ahead of them to close out the regular season.
After Iowa is a clash at No. 15 Michigan and then the Illini will play host to No. 20 Purdue to end the regular season. Considering Illinois' struggles against ranked teams over the past three games, there is a chance the Illini can get caught looking ahead to their big clash in Ann Arbor on Sunday.
The intensity is ratcheted up in every game this close to March, but Illinois runs the risk of sleep walking into this one while on three game skid. Meanwhile, we know the Hawkeyes are going to come to play. For all their faults and problems in 2024-25, this is a squad that has stuck together.
"We've worked so hard and we haven't had all the bounces go our way this year," senior forward Payton Sandfort said after the win over Washington, according to beat reporter Pat Harty. "We haven't played our best at times. But we've stayed together and I've always stressed that to everybody. Just stay together and it will give us a chance because you see teams that spiral, they just completely fall apart and they start blaming each other and doing all that. But we've loved each other and we've been with each other through all the tough losses, all the injuries, all the guys that have been out, and it's hard."
It will be hard, but the Hawkeyes, together as a unit, absolutely have a chance to stun Illinois on Tuesday evening.