The other works with a team that is six games over .500 and just added a buzzer-beating victory to its resume.
But Iowa basketball coach Todd Lickliter and Illinois coach Bruce Weber do have something in common as their teams prepare for Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Both are searching for consistency at the midpoint of the Big Ten season.
Lickliter thought his Hawkeyes had found it in recent performances, thoughts that changed as Iowa fell behind 17-2 and struggled in every facet of the game in a 60-46 loss at Michigan.
“I had gotten accustomed to watching this team play well and compete and I was as frustrated as I have been in some time with what I saw at Michigan,” Lickliter said Monday. “I can understand why we might have come out flat, but I can’t accept it.”
Lickliter says emotional efforts in two games earlier in the week impacted the Hawkeyes’ mistake-filled performance against the Wolverines, but he refuses to let that become an excuse.
“You try to train players to become consistent and for a good level of play to become habit. Why we would deviate from doing the things we had done well, I can’t answer,” Lickliter said.
Earlier Monday, Weber said during a teleconference that he was “relieved” that the Fighting Illini found a way to win two games last week after letting early leads slip away against Penn State and Indiana.
Weber sees several reasons for the inconsistent play, citing a combination of youth and giving his players too much freedom in their play early in the season.
“We have stretches where our possessions are too quick, we shoot quick 3-pointers and we don’t go inside out,” Weber said. “I don’t think we’re doing things selfishly. I do think our guys are trying to make plays, but sometimes they forget that the simplest play is the best play.”
Weber said his staff is taking a close look at lineup combinations and will make an effort beginning in Wednesday’s game to avoid personnel groups that have led Illinois to lulls in recent games.
“There are times when we make things too tough on ourselves. I told the guys they need to stop trying to do the things that will get them on SportsCenter and do the things that will get us wins,” Weber said.
“If we can do that, I think we can find the consistency that we need to make a nice push down the stretch.”
Lickliter hopes for the same from the Hawkeyes.
Iowa and Illinois took Sunday off, and in the case of the Hawkeyes, Lickliter called the brief break needed. Monday’s practice focused on fundamentals, including work on transition defense and rebounding, two shortcomings against the Wolverines.
“I think our players understood my disappointment and I know they were disappointed, too,’’ Lickliter said. “Hopefully, we can find the consistency we need over the next six weeks or so. That is what we are all looking for, no matter what the record says.’’
