Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery spoke with the media on Monday morning to preview the Hawkeyes game on Tuesday night against Northwestern. He discusses Iowa's defense on Friday night, their spike in offensive rebounding, what he has seen from the Wildcats, and he updates the injury status of guard C.J. Fredrick.

Q: Last year you went to Northwestern and played without one of your best players in Tyler Cook and won. Does it help this time around knowing you had success there playing short-handed?

McCAFFERY: Honestly I don’t think we really think about that. We went there no sure if TC was going to play and he didn’t play. Baer was really good. Wieskamp was really good. Garza was tremendous. I look at it more Garza had been a little injured at the time and it was kind of a bust out game for him. It was just one of those things. You play the game and try to execute with what we have against what they have.

Q: What are your thoughts on the home court dominance in the Big Ten this season? Why does it seem to get harder and harder to win on the road in the Big Ten?

McCAFFERY: I just think the benefit is always with the home team, especially if the home team is good. There could be a variety of factors and I really don’t think much about it. When you look at the venues, it’s going to be difficult. I don’t care where you go and the percentages are going to be against you when you are on the road. You just have to have a certain toughness and mentality that you are going to connected and follow the game plan in a way that we support each other and do our best to play well.

Q: When you look back on Friday’s game on defense, what do you think you were able to do well?

McCAFFERY: I think our transition defense was good and it has to be against them. We played a mix of man and zone and I thought were locked into their personnel. We didn’t give them a lot of second shot opportunities and they tend to hurt you with second shots. I thought we were paying close attention to Cowan, who is capable of giving them 25 on any night and we did a good job on him. I think collectively we were in a position to sustain what we were trying to do for 40 minutes.

Q: It seems like offensive rebounding has taken off for you. Right now in conference games you are leading the Big Ten in that category. Is that a big part of emphasis and how has Luka Garza gotten better in that area?

McCAFFERY: He has a real keen sense of how to go find the ball and so does Wieskamp. I think Kriener and Cordell have done a good job there too. It’s a little different for Connor because he has gone from playing point to playing forward, so we are trying to get him to consistently go. I think it all starts with Luka, but I think Wieskamp’s second shot and one was probably the play that sealed the game and he’s been really good at that.

Q: What are your thoughts on Northwestern so far this year and in particular, Spencer, who is a former Lacrosse player now starting at point guard in the Big Ten?

McCAFFERY: I really like their team. They have a lot of really good young players. Kopp and Nance played well last year and now they are sophomores. Buie is a tremendous freshman. Turner has always been a good player and he’s an older guy. Spencer was obviously a great lacrosse player, but that’s sort of irrelevant. He’s a tremendous basketball player. The guy has great feel. He can shoot it and drive it and he’s athletic. He is a really good player that plays with tremendous confidence.

Q: Any update on CJ Fredrick? With as competitive as he is, how hard has this been on him after sitting out last year?

McCAFFERY: It’s hard on him. He’s trying to do some things and see how it feels. He shot a little bit yesterday, but didn’t do too much. We will see how he is tomorrow.

Q: Following up on CJ, are you confident he is coming back at some point? Are you seeng some positive signs there?

McCAFFERY: Yeah, I think he will come back at some point. If it’s Tuesday…it’s literally day to day. If he has a bad day, then he won’t. If it’s a good day, then he plays and we see how it goes from there. Probably be like that for the rest of the season.