Fran McCaffery shares what Tony Perkins' mindset was before Indiana game

Tony Perkins grew up in Indianapolis and went to high school at Lawrence North on the city’s north side. The Iowa star knows first-hand how much Indiana basketball means to the state — which makes his big performance against the Hoosiers even more special.

Perkins dropped 23 points to help lead Iowa to the 90-68 blowout victory over Indiana at Assembly Hall earlier this week. It marked quite the homecoming, but he didn’t need any extra motivation for the game, according to head coach Fran McCaffery.

McCaffery said he didn’t talk to Perkins about playing at Assembly Hall. By the sounds of it, he didn’t need to have those conversations.

“Let’s just say, he understood,” McCaffery said.

Perkins has been an integral part of Iowa’s success this season, ranking third on the Hawkeyes in scoring to help lead them to an 11-8 record in Big Ten play. Iowa wraps up the regular season Sunday against Nebraska before making the trip to Chicago for the Big Ten Tournament next week.

Fran McCaffery credits the mental toughness of Iowa after Indiana victory

Assembly Hall isn’t a gym you can just walk into and win with ease. With that said, Iowa made it look pretty simple in their 90-68 victory over No. 15 Indiana, which gave them a season sweep over the Hoosiers.

After the game, Fran McCaffery credited his team for doing everything they needed to do to win in Bloomington. He knows how hard it is to go on the road in the Big Ten and win but, based on the numbers, the Hawkeyes gave themselves a great chance as they ended up running away with it.

“I look at it like this. I’ve been coming down here a long time…We haven’t won too many times in here. But I look at it like if you sign up to play in this league? You want to play in this type of environment,” McCaffery said. “That’s what you’ve agreed to, that’s what you sign up for. And you have to want to compete against a really good team who’s playing well.”