Preview: Rutgers Next Stop for Hawkeyes

Iowa Basketball in New Jersey for Wednesday Night Tilt

Iowa Basketball's (L-R) Joe Toussaint, Connor McCaffery, Payton Sandfort, Patrick McCaffery stand at mid-court during a game against on Dec. 21, 2021 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

It’s not about the numbers, Fran McCaffery said on Tuesday.

Iowa (13-4 overall, 3-3 Big Ten) is 19th in the NCAA’s NET rankings and at KenPom.com. The Hawkeyes just missed being in the Associated Press poll — they were first among teams receiving votes outside of the top 25 — and also received votes in the USA Today coaches poll.

But, heading into Wednesday’s game at Rutgers, McCaffery knows for the Hawkeyes to get to the NCAA tournament, it’s all about getting wins.

“I mean, there's all kinds of stuff in that formula,” McCaffery said. “But at the end of the day, you’ve got to keep your team healthy. You’ve got to keep getting better. You’ve got to pay attention to detail and scouting. And you've got to be somebody really good at it. You’ve got to keep doing it. So I mean, the numbers today really are irrelevant. It's what the numbers are going to look like in March.”

The Hawkeyes have won back-to-back games, and six of their last seven. They’re in good position for an NCAA tournament berth heading into the closing weeks, but McCaffery knows the Big Ten isn’t an easy journey.

The Hawkeyes play three of their next five games on the road, and one of the home games is a January 27 matchup with No. 4 Purdue.

“It’s just crazy to look at that stuff right now,” McCaffery said. “It's senseless. You know what's coming. We've got a ton of monster games coming up. This league is, and I said it last year. It's the best league, top to bottom. And the best that it’s been since I've been in it — it might be better this year in terms of strength of teams, top to bottom.”

Rutgers (10-6, 4-2) opened the season by splitting its first 10 games — although that stretch did include a home win over then-No. 1 Purdue — but has since won five of its last six games.

The Scarlet Knights’ resurgence, McCaffery said, can be attributed to the return of guard Geo Baker, who missed four games in late November and early December.

“They weren’t the same without him,” McCaffery said.

Ron Harper Jr., leads Rutgers in scoring, averaging 16.6 points overall and 20.3 points in Big Ten play. Harper started the season with four double-doubles, and leads the Big Ten in 3-point percentage at 64.7% in conference play.

“They really compete,” McCaffery said. “They really defend. They've always been unselfish. And they've got then got shot-makers, you know, they've got some veteran guys that are really good.”

Iowa has won the last three games in the series against the Scarlet Knights.

It’s all just numbers, but McCaffery knows what matters.

“You’ve got to keep getting better because as the season goes on,” he said. “You’ve got to keep developing your roster so that you have enough players to absorb foul trouble or injury, whether it be (short-term) or long-term. So that's what we continue to try to do.”