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GAME NOTES: The Indiana Hoosiers try for just their second true road win of 2009-10 as they challenge the Iowa Hawkeyes in a Big Ten Conference battle in Iowa City this evening.

The Hoosiers and Hawkeyes have both experienced dismal conference efforts this season and are currently tied for ninth place in the standings at 3-12, ahead of only Penn State. Since beating the Nittany Lions back on January 21st by a final of 67-61, the Hoosiers have dropped nine in a row. On Thursday night, the team was crushed by Wisconsin at home in a 78-46 final.

As for the Hawkeyes, they too played three nights ago, hitting the road to take on Northwestern in what turned into a 74-57 setback. The loss was the third straight and the seventh in eight games for the group.

With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, the Hoosiers are ahead by a count of 94-70 at the moment.

The starting five for the Hoosiers was dismal against the Badgers earlier in the week, combining to make just 9-of-33 shots from the floor in the 32-point home loss. It took Derek Elston off the bench to shoot 5-of-6 from the floor to become the lone double-digit scorer for Indiana in the lopsided decision. Elston finished with 12 points and a team-best seven rebounds in his 18 minutes of work. Losing Maurice Creek (16.4 ppg) to knee surgery early in the season took a lot out of the Hoosiers and they've never recovered, even with guys like Verdell Jones and Christian Watford trying to shoulder the additional load with 14.4 and 12.1 ppg, respectively. Watford is also clearing close to six rebounds per game, but that doesn't dismiss the fact that he has but 15 assists and 62 turnovers thus far.

Iowa turned the ball over 14 times against Northwestern earlier this week at Welsh-Ryan Arena, and the Wildcats traded in those miscues for 22 points as the home team cruised to the win over the Hawkeyes. Matt Gatens led the way for Iowa with his 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists, but he also shot just 4-of-13 from the floor and missed all six of his three-point tries. Cully Payne chipped in 10 points as one of three players to make one three-point basket on the night. Over the course of 28 games this season Gatens leads the group in scoring with his 12.3 ppg and is second in assists and steals with 95 and 26, respectively. However, Gatens is by no means a clutch shooter with his accuracy from the floor sitting at just 36.7 percent at the moment. With Anthony Tucker (11.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg) now unavailable because of disciplinary issues, Gatens is the lone double-digit scorer on a team that is posting only 61.4 ppg in 2009-10.

The first meeting of the season between these teams amounted to a combined 101 points, so with such limited fire power it could easily be in that neighborhood once again.