After securing a sweep of in-state rival Purdue for the first time in a decade, No. 15 Indiana will look to keep its roll going at home Tuesday night by earning a split with Iowa in Bloomington, Ind.
The Hoosiers (20-9, 11-7 Big Ten) host the Hawkeyes on the heels of Saturday’s 79-71 win at fifth-ranked Purdue. It was the 10th victory in 13 games for Indiana, but one that came with a superlative, in leading scorer Trayce Jackson-Davis’ view.
“That was the best victory we’ve had since I’ve been here in playing a complete 40 minutes,” said Jackson-Davis, a senior. “We fell behind and never wavered. We kept fighting.”
After shooting 43 percent from the floor in the first half and entering the break down by four, the Hoosiers connected on 58 percent of their field goals in the second half.
Jalen Hood-Schifino was consistent throughout, scoring a career-high 35 points to pace the Hoosiers.
“I live for big games,” Hood-Schifino said. “I knew going into Purdue would be a tough one. The aggressiveness came out. Shots were falling.”
A freshman, Hood-Schifino surpassed last month’s 33-point effort against Northwestern while chipping in seven rebounds and two assists.
“We knew when we recruited him that he could get to his spots,” Hoosiers coach Mike Woodson said. “We ran a lot of pick and rolls with the ball in his hands. He made a lot of good plays.”
Iowa is coming off Saturday’s improbable comeback victory against Michigan State. After trailing by 13 points with 2:03 to play and by 11 with 1:34 to go, the host Hawkeyes rallied to force overtime, drilling six treys in the final 90 seconds.
Iowa (18-11, 10-8) held on for a 112-106 victory.
“It’s a resilient group,” Hawkeyes coach Fran McCaffery said. “They were really connected — in every huddle, in every timeout and on the floor. There was a lot of communication and anything short of that, you have no chance in a situation like that.
“So I’m really proud of them for how they just stuck together and remained connected and kept competing.”
Kris Murray (26 points), Tony Perkins (24) and Payton Sandfort (22) steered Iowa’s balanced attack, which thrived behind 17-for-36 shooting from long range.
“We play our game the way that we should, we’re pretty special offensively,” Sandfort said. “We’ve been away from that the last few games. Passes have been off leading to shots being off. Everybody’s rhythm was off.
“But we really emphasized that in practice the last few days and ran with it. And it took an incredible effort to beat (Michigan State).”
The Hawkeyes snapped a two-game losing streak and now will try to build on a 91-89 home win against the Hoosiers on Jan. 5.
Iowa trailed by 21 points in the first half but recovered, getting double-doubles from Murray (30 points, 10 rebounds) and Filip Rebraca (19 points, 10 rebounds).
Jackson-Davis had 30 points, nine boards and three blocks for Indiana, which was just 17-for-26 from the free-throw line compared to Iowa’s 22-for-25 effort.
–Field Level Media
