By John Bohnenkamp

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Iowa’s men’s basketball team won its last Big Ten Tournament championship in Indianapolis in 2022, winning four games in four days.

The Hawkeyes are going to be back in Gainbridge Fieldhouse this week with a little longer journey ahead. This time, if they’re going to win a title, they’ll have to win five games in five days.

Iowa (16-15) is the 15th seed in the tournament, playing No. 10 seed Ohio State (17-14) at approximately 5 p.m. Wednesday in a first-round game.

No team that has played in the first day of the tournament after it expanded to five days in 2015 has made it to the championship game — Ohio State, a 13 seed in 2023, came the closest by reaching the semifinals that year — but winning the title and getting the conference’s automatic bid is Iowa’s only chance at making the NCAA tournament.

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery recalled that 2022 run on Tuesday.

“That was a special team in terms of versatility, intellect and toughness,” McCaffery said. “It was a special group to be a part of. An incredibly professional approach, just locked in to win four games in four days against really good teams.”

Iowa, a 5 seed that season, defeated Northwestern in the second round, then beat Rutgers, Indiana and Purdue over the next three days.

“We beat two teams from Indiana,” McCaffery said. “Had leads. Lost leads. Came back and closed out games. That team was really good at that.”

This team has already been playing on a postseason footing — the Hawkeyes needed to win Sunday at Nebraska to get the last spot in the tournament, and they did that with an 83-68 triumph.

It was all about the approach, McCaffery said.

“They have been like that every game all year,” McCaffery said. “Clearly there was more at stake with that particular game, for obvious reasons, but they were locked in. But I’ve been proud of them all year in that regard.

“When you work as hard as they have, and continue to fight and compete, and then beating a really good team on the road, it’s a great feeling. So in the locker room, and you saw it spill onto the floor a little bit, they were really excited, and looking forward to the next challenge on Wednesday.”

Ohio State defeated Iowa 82-65 on January 27 in the only matchup between the two teams this season. The Hawkeyes only trailed 30-26 at halftime, but gave up 52 second-half points while shooting just 39.3 percent from the field for the game.

Asked what the Hawkeyes have to do better in this game, McCaffery said, “Real simple — we had a stretch where we had good shots, and they didn’t go in, and we shot it pretty well most of the rest of the game. And when you do that, you’ve got to get stops, and it’s hard sometimes, because if you miss four or five possessions in a row, they might run it on you and get some easy baskets or some open threes, and that’s when it got away from us a little bit. We didn’t show up with our defense when the offense was not making shots. So we’ve got to make sure we consistently move the ball, get good shots, and get our defense back.”

One win in Indianapolis will guarantee the Hawkeyes their seventh consecutive winning season.

McCaffery was asked if another postseason tournament would be a possibility for Iowa. There is the NIT, as well as the new College Basketball Crown, a 16-team tournament in Las Vegas.

“I would expect us to be playing, for sure,” McCaffery said. “And I don’t know that I can answer that question specifically, but I would expect us to be playing.”