Iowa men’s basketball’s back-and-forth season returns to Iowa City on Saturday against No. 20 Wisconsin at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Over their past six contests, the Hawkeyes are 3-3 but have yet to collect consecutive victories since their three-game winning streak from Jan. 6 to Jan. 15. 

With just six games left in the regular season, head coach Fran McCaffery’s squad will look to string up Ws, starting with a sold-out affair against the Badgers at 1:15 p.m. 

During Friday’s media availability, McCaffery said Iowa’s crowd has been “instrumental” in helping provide momentum, highlighting Iowa’s 18-point victory over a then-ranked Nebraska team, when thousands of fans braved a snowstorm to make their presence felt. With a packed house all donned in black Saturday afternoon, the Hawkeyes will look to pounce on a reeling Badger squad. 

When the pair of schools last met up in Madison, Wisconsin took home an 83-72 triumph, outscoring the Hawkeyes by 11 in the final 20 minutes of what had been a tied halftime affair. That win was the start of an 8-1 stretch from head coach Greg Gard’s unit as it opened conference play, spiking the team’s national ranking to as high as No. 6. But the Badgers’ engines sputtered as the calendar flipped to February, as they dropped 4-of-5  matchups, including a 22-point loss to Rutgers on Feb. 10. 

In spite of its recent slipping, Wisconsin still boasts third place in the Big Ten, as well as a leading-scorer A.J. Storr, who McCaffery dubbed as one of the fastest guys on the collegiate hoops scene. The 6-foot-7 sophomore from Rockford, Illinois, isn’t known for his shooting – averaging 29.7 percent from downtown, but can make plays easily with his quickness and athleticism. 

Wisconsin guard AJ Storr dropped 28 in a win over Michigan State tonight.

Storr is averaging 20 ppg over the last four games and Wisconsin sits atop the Big 10 👀 pic.twitter.com/EcODcGhI5v

— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) January 27, 2024

With seven-footer Steven Crowl collecting a team-best 7.8 points per game, the Badgers rank second in the conference in opponent rebounds. In Iowa’s last game against Maryland, it lost the board battle, 37-29. McCaffery pointed out the need for improved performance on the glass but maintained the effort has to go far beyond the guys down low. 

The head coach explained how the point guard needs to be active on rebounding three-pointers, as their snags can jump-start the Hawkeyes’ transition offense, which will be needed against a Badger squad that gives up 67.8 points per game. 

Part of getting McCaffery’s offense on track is motion, which Iowa forward Payton Sandfort said was an afterthought when his team goes on scoreless stretches in crunch time – such as on Wednesday in College Park, Maryland, when Iowa scored two points in the final two minutes on 1-of-7 shooting. 

“It comes from a place of confidence,” Sandfort said of the late-game struggles. “We let them get back in the game and we get all tense and, you know, the shots become harder. You get more stagnant … That’s where our offense falls apart.” 

But even if  Iowa’s shots can’t seem to find the net, Sandfort emphasized controlling the controllable, that being defense. 

“If we’re not scoring, which doesn’t just happen to us, but it happens to everybody in this league and the NBA,” he said. “You’ve got to make stops and that’s where the biggest deficiency has been  – on the defensive end.” 

Reminiscing on history 

Both McCaffery and Sandfort were in attendance for Caitlin Clark’s historic performance on Thursday night against Michigan, and each took the time to express their congratulations to the star guard.  

While coaching at Lehigh University in 1988,  McCaffery bore witness to more than 2,700 points from Darren Queenan, still the school’s all-time leading scorer. The head coach mentioned that one time he pulled Queenan from the game because he chose to pass up a shot. 

“‘If you’re not going to shoot, you can sit,’” McCaffery remembered saying. 

If he ever got the chance to coach Clark and her prolific shooting ability, the approach would be the same. 

“I mean, does the light get any greener?” he said with a smile. 

Sandfort’s experience with Clark goes way back to when the pair were young kids playing in the same league back in Des Moines, Iowa. While Sandfort said his team got the better of Clark’s during their time in first and second grade, Clark would get her revenge, defeating Sandfort’s squad in a tournament semifinal game years later. 

Sandfort, calling himself an emotional youngster, was left flabbergasted with Clark’s performance, millions of shots before she would break the NCAA women’s all-time scoring record. 

“I was like, ‘Is this what all girls are like?’”