When Iowa basketball’s schedule came out ahead of the season, I had this one circled. Saturday game against a border rival where the bad blood goes back decades and seems renewed, even if the games haven’t tilted their direction of late.
The Iowa Hawkeyes (14-8, 6-5) will look to get the win against Illinois (16-6, 7-5) for the first time in three years and six tries. Fran McCaffery got the first five against Brad Underwood but as the Illini have achieved final form, Iowa hasn’t been able to get them back. With Garza v Ayo discourse, some ugly trash talk thrown Kris Murray’s way last year, and Iowa putting the kibosh on the Orange Krush’s annual procurement-under-false-pretenses of a block…
