Dec. 18, 2008
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IOWA CITY, Iowa – Coach Todd Lickliter’s Iowa Hawkeyes will be looking to snap one streak and tack on a game to another Saturday when the squad squares off against Drake at 3 p.m. Iowa time in the Knapp Center.
The Bulldogs, 8-3 overall and stinging from a 66-64 loss to Stephen F. Austin last Saturday in the championship game of the Drake Hy-Vee Classic, have won the last two games in the series including a thrilling 56-51 game last December in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Drake’s 75-59 victory in Des Moines two years ago snapped a 27-game winning streak by Iowa in the series that dated back to the 1978 season.
On the other hand, Iowa, 9-2 and winners of three in a row, has won its first two games against intrastate opponents and will be looking for its first sweep in the battle for state bragging rights since the 2004-05 season.
A win won’t come easy, however. It’s finals week on the UI campus and, as far as Lickliter is concerned, one of the biggest tests will come Saturday afternoon.
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“Drake is just a terrific team. Poised, balanced, skilled, confident, unselfish, and well-coached. They play 40 minutes. It will be a really good test for us.”
Todd Lickliter
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“We have a huge exam on Saturday…a non-academic one,” Iowa’s second-year head coach told the media assembled Thursday morning at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“Drake is just a terrific team. Poised, balanced, skilled, confident, unselfish, and well-coached. They play 40 minutes. It will be a really good test for us.”
One of the recurring themes that surrounds the 2008-09 Hawkeyes is the team’s unselfishness. Lickliter talked about that again when asked whether he’s surprised by the contributions of junior guard Jermain Davis, a newcomer to the team this season who scored a career-high 16 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds in 33 minutes of action in Iowa’s 73-57 victory over Iowa State.
“All of our guys are capable of contributing in some way. I don’t know if one contribution is more important than another. Last Friday, Jermain gave great energy but he was also in the right place and the right time. He took advantage of the opportunities and he did so in an unselfish way,” said Lickliter.
“You’re going to see guys do different things on different nights because their focus is correct. I have great confidence in all of these guys. I have confidence that they’ll play the game in a way that gives us a chance to compete.”
Lickliter didn’t, but he could point to the stat sheet as evidence of his team’s unselfishness and depth. Nine of the 12 names on the roster have logged more than 100 minutes of playing time. Eight Hawkeyes have attempted at least 36 shots from the field. Four have more than 20 assists.
Lickliter indicated that he had no worries about student-athlete academic eligibility matters as the UI heads towards the conclusion of finals week. “(Finals week) is a new experience for five of our guys,” he noted.
He also noted that Anthony Tucker will begin participating in team practices effective with Thursday’s practice.