CHICAGO — Any changes to the Big Ten’s basketball foundation will be subtle, not forceful, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said Wednesday. “There’s no appetite for regional divisions in basketball,” Delany said. “I think 18 games is about right. I thought this year, as enjoyable as the season was, as competitive it was and as [...]

The Big Ten’s top four players will rank among the nation’s top 10 at the end of the season. Michigan guard Trey Burke, Ohio State forward Deshaun Thomas, Indiana center Cody Zeller and Indiana guard/forward Victor Oladipo all are competitive for first-team All-American honors. All four are almost assured of landing on the top two [...]

IOWA CITY — It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win. And after last Saturday’s collapse, that’s enough for now for the Iowa basketball team. The Hawkeyes slugged through a porous first-half shooting performance to batter Purdue 58-48 tonight at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa (18-10, 7-8 Big Ten) didn’t score a field goal for the last [...]

Iowa sophomore point guard Mike Gesell is out for two weeks with a “stress reaction” in his foot that had been building throughout the season, Iowa associate sports information director Matt Weitzel confirmed tonight. Gesell, a freshman, averages 9.0 points per game and and is second in assists with 79. He averages 27.5 minutes per [...]

IOWA CITY — Iowa freshman Adam Woodbury has not scored more than eight points in any Big Ten game, yet his coach refuses to label him a disappointment. To the contrary, in fact. Iowa coach Fran McCaffery likes the development of his 7-foot-1 center and the impact he has on his team. It’s just going [...]

IOWA CITY — Former Cedar Rapids Jefferson prep Jarrod Uthoff will have a major impact on the team next year, Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said Monday morning on the Big Ten coaches teleconference. “The thing I like about (Uthoff) is,” McCaffery said, “you can play him as a long, shot-blocking post player or you can [...]

IOWA CITY — Iowa’s most recent three opponents have outscored the Hawkeyes at an alarming rate off the opening tip, a trend the players and coaches say cannot continue. At Purdue, the Hawkeyes (14-8, 3-6 Big Ten) missed their first six shots, and trailed 10-2 nearly six minutes into their game. Penn State built a [...]

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Statistics often tell the story more for the loser than the victor. Free-throw misses and dozens of missed shots doomed Iowa in its second straight road loss, this one a 65-62 overtime heartbreaker at Purdue. After an impressive 9-for-9 run at the free-throw line early, Iowa sank only 2-of-6 attempts in the [...]

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Iowa called the right play, isolated the right defender and had the right amount of time on the shot clock. But none of it mattered when the shot didn’t fall. With the score tied late in regulation, Iowa guard Devyn Marble found himself one-on-one against Purdue’s Ronnie Johnson. Marble’s floater with [...]

IOWA CITY — The way Melsahn Basabe sees it, every game the rest of the way will come down to toughness. For Iowa that begins Sunday at Purdue. “There’s no more physical team in the country than Purdue, so that’s going to be a battle,” Basabe said. “If we go there and we want to play [...]