By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – If ever there were a time for Hawkeye fans to show their support and loyalty to the Iowa men’s basketball team, Sunday’s game against Michigan is that time.

Because the current Iowa team, which has four true freshmen in the rotation, needs your help and support after having suffered back-to-back beatdowns on the road against Purdue and Iowa State by margins of 19 and 25 points, respectively.

The current team is struggling with consistency and with trying to find its identity, so every little bit helps, including a strong home-court advantage.

Iowa, with a mix of youth and experience, has a lot of potential and promise, but also has some flaws, especially on defense.

And while Sunday games aren’t ideal, this game will tip-off at 3:30 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, so it could be worse from a timing standpoint.

Carver-Hawkeye Arena can be a hostile environment when the seats are mostly filled, but it also can feel like a library when the seats aren’t filled.

Michigan comes to town with some flaws, but is capable of winning this game, especially if Iowa should struggle.

If Iowa doesn’t play well, it could be in danger of having a three-game losing streak and a 0-2 record in conference play.

A lively and engaged home crowd could help Iowa get over the hump.

Fans fill Carver-Hawkeye Arena every time Caitlin Clark and the Iowa women’s basketball team plays at home, and it’s easy to see why with everything Clark and her cohorts have accomplished.

But it also wasn’t that long ago when drapes were hung at Carver-Hawkeye Arena during the women’s games to hide the empty seats.

The hardest time to be a fan is when your team is struggling, but that is also when fans are needed the most.

The Iowa men’s basketball team hasn’t come close to accomplishing what the Iowa women have over the last five years. But the Iowa men have appeared in a postseason tournament in 10 of the last 11 completed seasons under head coach Fran McCaffery, including seven NCAA Tournament appearances.

Over the last four seasons, Iowa combined to win 87 games, finished fifth place or better in the Big Ten standings, won the Big Ten Tournament in 2022, competed in three NCAA Tournaments and won 20 games over AP Top 25 opponents.

The problem is that Iowa hasn’t advanced past the second round of the NCAA Tournament under McCaffery, or since 1999, and that doesn’t sit well with some fans.

And if that’s the main reason some fans aren’t attending home games, it is certainly their right to make that decision.

But on the other hand, part of being a fan is showing loyalty during tough times like right now.

It would be easy to just stay home and watch Sunday’s game on television and not have to hassle with traffic and parking.

But this Iowa team needs fan support.

The players are hurting right now, but they’ll keep grinding and scrapping because that’s what players and coaches do.

The Iowa players should be more confident from playing at home on Sunday, but that confidence would climb to a higher level if most of the seats are filled.

The Iowa students could take a couple hours away from their studies heading into semester exams to attend Sunday’s game. They could use the game as sort of a study break because there are few things more depressing than seeing a student section that is half empty, especially for a Big Ten game.

It’s just a suggestion.

A strong home-court advantage could be just what this Iowa team needs to break out of its funk.

The veterans on the team, namely Tony Perkins, Patrick McCaffery and Payton Sandfort, have to play better on both ends of the floor.

But they know that, and we can assume it’s being addressed.

And in fairness to Perkins, his grandmother recently passed away, so his mind has been focused on other other things besides just basketball.

The performance at point guard also has to improve dramatically, and in a hurry.

Fran McCaffery used four different players at point guard against Iowa State – Josh Dix, Dasonte Bowen, Brock Harding and Tony Perkins – but all four struggled.

Bowen actually played much better in the second half against Iowa State as a shooting guard, while Harding played point guard.

Harding is the closet Iowa has to a pure point guard, but he is also just a freshman, and with that comes an adjustment period.

But to reiterate, Iowa needs the veteran players to lift their performance level, and that includes graduate transfer Ben Krikke.

Yes, he is a newcomer to the Big Ten, but he’s also a fifth-year senior who has been around the block after four seasons at Valparaiso where he led the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring last season.

Krikke is probably the closest Iowa has to a go-to, first-option scorer.

But he only scored eight points against the Cyclones.

Iowa had the luxury of having a reliable first-option scorer in each of the past four seasons with Luka Garza, Keegan Murray and Kris Murray.

The current team doesn’t have that luxury right now, and it might never have it.

So, it has to adjust by having more players step up on a regular basis.

As for Michigan, it has its own issues as evidenced by its 4-5 record under acting head coach Phil Martelli.

The offense seems to bog down, and defensively, opponents are making 39.2 percent of their 3s against Michigan; only one major-conference team has been worse this season.

Iowa has struggled from 3-point range in multiple games this season, but it’s highly unlikely that Fran McCaffery would tell his players to stop shooting 3s because it’s such a key part of Iowa’s fast-paced offense.

Payton Sandfort is hot and cold from three, but when he’s hot, he’s as good as about anybody.

Iowa will want to push the tempo in Sunday’s game, while Michigan will probably try to slow the game down.

The best way to push the tempo is by playing hard and with emotion, especially on defense.

And it’s easier to play hard, and with emotion, when you’re playing in front of raucous home crowd.

Michigan vs. Iowa

When: Sunday, 3:30 p.m.

Where: Carver-Hawkeye Arena

TV: Big Ten Network

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

All-time series: Sunday’s game is the 166th meeting in the all-time series that begin in 1921. Michigan leads the series, 98-67. The Hawkeyes swept the series during the 2022-23 season, winning 82-71 in Ann Arbor and 93-84 in overtime in Iowa City. The road win was Iowa’s first at Crisler Arena since 2016.

Iowa’s two-game winning streak is the longest in the series since winning five straight from 2014-17. The Hawkeyes have won seven of the nine meetings between the two schools in Iowa City since 2012.

Head coach Fran McCaffery is 10-11 all-time against the Wolverines.