At the beginning of the season, many observers probably didn't expect Iowa and No. 11 Michigan State to each be unbeaten heading into their Big Ten opener at Tuesday night in East Lansing.

But that is the case, so already it will be an intriguing matchup when the Hawkeyes and Spartans hook up for their only meeting of the regular season.

For Iowa, many weren't anticipating a 7-0 start given it is coming off a bad season last year and has a new coach in first-year man Ben McCollum, who came over from Drake.

Primarily a high-scoring but poor defensive team under former coach Fran McCaffery, McCollum already has instilled a defensive identity at Iowa, which is limiting opponents to 61.1 points a contest this season.

"Sometimes it's going to look ugly and you've got to win ugly," McCollum

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