The Iowa Hawkeyes tipped off against Illinois in Carver-Hawkeye Arena amidst what is probably too much worry for a team that’s ranked inside the AP top-25 and sitting in the top third of the Big Ten standings. It’s a worry that has little to do with the individual matchup against Illinois or the impact of that particular game.
While Illinois entered the day tied for first place in the conference, Iowa entered only two games back and ranked ahead of the Fighting Illini. A loss wasn’t a season ender on either side. But Iowa did enter Sunday’s matchup fresh off their first loss in nearly three weeks and the game was the Hawkeyes’ first in the month of February.