[bears9]

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- You can bet overconfidence won't plague the University of Iowa men's basketball team Tuesday evening when the Hawkeyes host Northwestern at 8:05 p.m.
The Wildcats might be 7-16 overall, 0-12 in the Big Ten Conference, but a valuable lesson learned by Iowa on Valentine's Day is undoubtedly still stuck in the collective Hawkeye craw. It was on that night when Iowa raced to a 16-point lead over a Wolverine team that entered the game with three league wins and one road victory. Michigan scored 44 second-half points and rallied to win, 60-52.

"I hope they learned a valuable lesson," UI head coach Todd Lickliter said. "(The lead) wasn't big enough and we obviously learned an expensive lesson."

The Hawkeyes are 11-15 overall, 4-9 in league play. They are 104-51 all-time against Northwestern, but the Wildcats have won four of the last six. Iowa prevailed 66-58 in the only meeting last season at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
"Northwestern is extremely well-coached," Lickliter said. "The spacing, cuts and challenges they present are not only excellent, but they're more than willing to make you guard multiple actions during a possession."

Overconfident? These Hawkeyes learned a lesson :: Iowa won't take well-coached Northwestern for granted