The Iowa men return from the Christmas break on Friday night and host Northern Illinois in their final non-conference game. The Hawkeyes are 7-5 while Northern Illinois is 6-5.

That’s Iowa coach Fran McCaffery who is happy with his rotation as they get ready to resume Big Ten play.

McCaffery expects freshman forward Ladji Dembele to play Friday night. He missed the last game against Maryland-Baltimore County with a leg injury.*

Freshman point guard Brock Harding continues to make progress. He is coming off a 10-point, 12 assist effort in a win over UMBC and could be in line for even more minutes.*