By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – February is now more than half over and the resurgent Iowa men’s basketball team is just two games out of first place in the Big Ten loss column with seven games remaining.

A year after suffering a stunning decline that included a 4-14 record in conference play, 21^st-ranked Iowa is emerging as a legitimate contender for a title that it hasn’t won in 40 years.

It has been so long since Iowa last won a Big Ten title in men’s basketball that Hayden Fry hadn’t even coached the Iowa football team in a game yet.

Fry’s era began in 1979 and just months after the Iowa men’s basketball team had tied Michigan State and Purdue for a share of the 1978-79 regular-season conference title.

“It’s crazy just to think about,” said Iowa point guard Jordan Bohannon.

Especially in Bohannon’s case because he is the son of former Iowa quarterback Gordy Bohannon, who led Iowa to the Rose Bowl following the 1981 season.

Gordy Bohannon transferred to Iowa from a California junior college in 1979 after Fry had convinced him that the program was poised to make a resurgence that would include a trip back home to play in a Rose Bowl.

It seems like a long time ago because four decades is a long time ago.

Iowa junior forward Tyler Cook wasn’t aware of the title drought, but seemed surprised when told about it on Thursday.

“That’s a long time,” Cook said.

Jordan Bohannon, on the other hand, was aware of Iowa’s 40-year title drought.

“I’ve always been one researching a lot into a lot of different things,” Bohannon said. “It just runs in the family, I guess. I like to know what my goals are going to be and what team-wise goals are and you have to realize what happened in the past and how teams got there in the past and what worked for them and how long it’s been because Iowa fans would love a conference title as much as we would.”

It wasn’t the Iowa players who brought up the conference race on Thursday, but instead it was the media.

The players seem locked in and fully engaged on the next task at hand, which is Saturday’s game at Rutgers.

And that’s how it should be because the best way to handle the big picture is to live in the moment.

Iowa has contended for a regular-season title twice before under McCaffery only to unravel down the stretch.

However, each team is different, and right now the current team is playing well and gaining confidence with each win.

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery never looks past the next game on the schedule, and he sometimes seems annoyed when others do.

All it takes is one loss to flip the narrative.

Iowa has won eight of its last 10 conference games, including three times on the road.

As for Rutgers, it has a 9-5 record at home this season and snapped a three-game losing streak on Wednesday at Northwestern. The Scarlet Knights are 12-12 overall and 5-9 in conference play.

Rutgers also defeated Iowa 80-64 last season at home, so there is no reason for the Iowa players to take Saturday’s game lightly.

Penn State showed this past week that the last-place team in the conference could beat the team in first-place when it defeated Michigan at home.

Rutgers has good size on the frontline and a rising star at guard in Geo Baker, who averages 13.0 points per game.

The Scarlet Knights also have more depth under head coach Steve Pikiell.

“They always had some good players, but now they just have more of them,” said Fran McCaffery. “So they have depth. They have the ability to overcome one guy having an off-night. Somebody else can step up. They have that kind of team. They've got a really good guard, and they've got a really good front court guy.”

Iowa’s depth could be impacted on Saturday if senior forward Nicholas Baer can’t play. He has been in concussion protocol this week after having suffered a head injury under unusual circumstances against Northwestern last Sunday.

It’s unusual because nobody seems certain how the injury occurred.

“If you can figure it out, let me know,” McCaffery said. “We looked at everything. I didn't see anything. We look at different angles. The only collision we saw was going in one direction and he was holding the other side of his face, so I don't know if he got hit earlier and didn't realize it. As you know, there's a lot of contact. Any time you're in traffic at this level, you can get hit in the head. And it's not necessarily malicious or intentional. Just happens. Everybody is going for the ball.

“I'm happy to report he's doing a lot better. If we played a game in the middle of the week he wouldn't have been able to play, but he's got a shot now.”

Another storyline heading into Saturday’s game is whether Iowa center Luka Garza can avoid getting into early foul trouble. The 6-foot-11 sophomore picked up two early fouls in each of the past three games and was held scoreless against Northwestern last Sunday after scoring just four points against Indiana.

“I think I’ve been a little bit late to some spots in the rotations and help, and I think I’ve just gotten a couple tough calls in certain situations,” Garza said. “But I’ve just got to be smarter with my rotations. I’ve just got to be there earlier.”

Garza will have some extra incentive to say out of foul trouble with his mother planning to attend Saturday’s game in Piscataway, N.J.

Garza is from the Washington D.C. area and Saturday’s game is Iowa’s only game on the east coast this season.

Iowa plays Maryland just once at home this coming Tuesday.

“My mom will be at this game and I haven’t seen her in a while,” Garza said. "I've got probably some coaches who will try and make the trip. I'm really excited to do that.

"We don't go to Maryland this year, so this is the closest opportunity for them to come and see me, I've got some high school friends and stuff like that. I'm real excited. It's going to be great to see them, but also great to try and get a win." 

 

Iowa vs. Rutgers

When: 5 p.m., Saturday

Where: Piscataway, N.J.

TV: FS1

Records: Iowa is 19-5 overall and 8-5 in the Big Ten; Rutgers is 12-12 and 5-9.

All-time series: Iowa has a 5-1 advantage, including a 2-1 record in Piscataway.