The Iowa Hawkeyes play Coppin State today (Saturday) in Iowa City, in their final non-conference game before the Christmas break. Iowa opens the Big Ten season hosting Indiana in Iowa City on December 31st. You can hear the game on KJAN, beginning at 11-a.m.

Coach Fran McCaffery says they want to finish this portion of the schedule on a good note. “We wanna keep playing the way we’re playing, hard, solid D, sharing the ball, a lot of different guys feeling good about their game, and that’s the way you want to go into Indiana,” McCaffery said. The Hawkeyes have been shooting the ball well lately, and freshman guard Mike GeSsell says it’s a matter of being confident.

“Whether you miss your last one, missed your last five, you have to continue to shoot with confidence. We are really confident the players we have on this team can shoot the ball,” GeSsell said. He says coach McCaffery is going to continue giving them the green light to shoot, even if they miss a few shots. While they have a winning record and have been shooting the ball well, GeSsell said after the win over South Carolina State that they still have room to improve on defense.

“You know that was kind of our weakness as a team last year and we still have some breakdowns at times,” GeSsell said. He says if they can cut out the breakdowns they will improve as a team. Iowa is 10-2 heading into Saturday’s game.

(Radio Iowa/Sports)