Iowa players and coaches head to practice on Monday at the Cancun Challenge at the Moon Palace Resort in Cancun, Mexico.

Iowa’s players arrived in Cancun on Sunday afternoon, worked out a couple of times and have relaxed by the pool. The Hawkeyes (4-0) play Western Kentucky (2-1) tonight in search of their first 5-0 start since the 2008-09 season.

Western Kentucky’s only loss was to Southern Miss in overtime. The Hilltoppers feature Jamal Crook (19.7 ppg), T.J. Price (13.0) and George Fant (12.3). If you recall, Fant picked Western Kentucky over Iowa a few years ago.

The arena is a makeshift ballroom with aluminum bleachers ad filled with Wichita State fans. This seems to be their bowl game atmosphere.

Wichita State plays DePaul in the first game. The winners play again Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. The losers play at 6 p.m. CBS Sports Network will televise the games. Unless you have a satellite provider, it’s likely you won’t get the game.

Here’s what Iowa senior guard Eric May said about the experience so far in Mexico.

Here are some random snapshots about the resort:

The Mayan ruins are fairly close to the Moon Palace resort. Luckily there were plenty of room numbers past 2012. Coincidence? I think not.

Iowa players warming up at practice.

HawkeyeReport.com publisher Tom Kakert shows the preferred beverage in the Cancun Challenge media room. Hint: It's not 7-Up.

They serve free beer at the games. What a country!

Europeans are welcome in Mexico, even ones that formerly hated one another.