Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery says defense will be the key to Saturday's game against Wisconsin.IOWA CITY, IA (KTIV) -- -
The Hawkeyes won their first Big Ten game on Sunday at Northwestern. Now it's back into the grinder.
Iowa is back home on Saturday to play Wisconsin, who is the only unbeaten team in the conference at 4-0.
Iowa improved to 12-5 with a 20-point win on Sunday and it was a true team effort. The Hawks have played ten or more players in 16 of their 17 games and the reserves outscored the starters, 40 to 30 against Northwestern.
Wisconsin, 13-4 overall after beating number-2 Indiana, ranks first in the country in fewest turnovers, so Iowa will have to play a error-free game themselves to win.
"What we have to be able to do is continue to defend the way we've been defending," said Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery. "I mean, if you can turn them over, that's great, but you've got to make them miss and you've got to give them one when it's all said and done."
"Obviously, Wisconsin won the game because they slowed it down and played their style," said Iowa freshman Adam Woodbury. "We kind of have to do different things than what Indiana did against them. We beat them twice last year so we're going to try and take that blueprint away from it and try to incorporate that on Saturday."
Iowa and Wisconsin play at 7 o'clock Saturday night on the Big Ten Network.
Saturday will also mark the 20th anniversary of the death of former Hawkeye Chris Street. He was killed in a car accident in 1993 in Iowa City, 15 games into his junior season.
Street's memory will be recognized at halftime of Saturday's game.
