By Marc ZarefskyThe Daily Northwestern
The Iowa Hawkeyes enter tonight’s game at Michigan having lost four of six games. As they approach the midway point of their Big Ten season, one of the team’s only bright spots has been the play of fifth-year senior Adam Haluska.
Haluska enters tonight’s game as the conference’s leading scorer, averaging an even 20 points per game.
“The thing that makes Adam so good is he can score in the three primary areas in half-court,” Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson said. “He can make 3s, he can post you up and he has a really good middle game, and he gets to the free throw line a lot.
“He has a lot of confidence in his offensive game.”
The last Hawkeye to lead the Big Ten in scoring at the end of the season was Andre Woolridge, who averaged 20.9 points per game in 1997.
In Sunday’s 57-46 loss to Wisconsin, Haluska had his worst shooting performance in conference play this season, scoring 16 points on 3-18 shooting. Nine of his points came from the charity stripe.
“He had some open looks (and) he had some tough luck,” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. “A couple of those (shots) were down and came out.
“There are only so many things you can do to try to curtail an athlete like (Haluska).”
THREE-HEADED MONSTER
Despite road losses last week against Wisconsin and Indiana, Michigan has proven to be one of the most difficult teams in the conference to face.
The Wolverines (16-6, 4-3) are led by a three-headed attack of seniors: guard Dion Harris, center Courtney Sims, and guard-forward Lester Abram. Each has accumulated more than 1,000 points in their Michigan-careers.
“When you’re talking about three 1,000 point scorers… you have to keep them in check,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “You have to make them earn their points, and you have to keep them out of transition.”
Harris currently leads the Wolverines in scoring with 13.2 points per game, while Sims and Abram are averaging 12.1 and 9.7 ppg, respectively.
“They’ve got a lot of weapons, and they’ve played at a high level at home,” Iowa coach Steve Alford said. “We only play them one time this year and that’s in their building, where they’ve played a high level of basketball throughout the year.”
In addition to the seniors, junior Ron Coleman has developed into another perimeter threat for the Wolverines, averaging 10 points and three rebounds in the team’s two losses last week.
ONE OLD, ONE NEW
Wisconsin senior Alando Tucker and Ohio State freshman Greg Oden were named co-Big Ten Players of the Week for their contributions in their respective teams’ wins last week.
Tucker totaled 43 points in Wisconsin’s two wins over Michigan and Iowa this week, helping lead the Badgers to a 21-1, 7-0 record and to the team’s 17th consecutive win – the longest winning streak in school history.
“When the rest of the team may be struggling, (Wisconsin) has that one guy that can carry them, and Tucker can do that,” Alford said.
This is the fourth time Tucker has been recognized as conference player of the week, and second time this season.
Oden grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds and added 17 points in the Buckeyes 59-50 win over Northwestern on Wednesday, and followed up that performance with 19 points and six rebounds against Michigan State on Saturday. Oden, still hampered by a right wrist injury that required surgery in June, shot 11-14 from the free throw line with his non-dominant hand in the 66-64 win over the Spartans.
Reach Marc Zarefsky at [email protected].
