Iowa (7-1) at Northern Iowa (4-1)

In a three-game stretch against small-conference schools, Iowa’s biggest challenge may be the finale.

Winners of four straight, the 12th-ranked Hawkeyes seek their first road win over Northern Iowa in six years when the rivals meet at the McLeod Center on Tuesday.

Iowa (7-1), primed to make a strong run in the Big Ten, won its 21st straight Hawkeye Challenge title with easy wins over Fairfield on Friday and Valparaiso on Saturday.

The Hawkeyes now face the Panthers (4-1), but the matchup could prove to be a bigger test than the previous two contests.

Iowa has lost two straight on the road to Northern Iowa, which is favored to win the Missouri Valley Conference. The Hawkeyes’ last win at the McLeod Center was a 67-59 victory on Dec. 7, 1999.

The Panthers, off to their best start since winning their first six games of the 1999-00 season, also have an eight-game home winning streak dating to last season. Their last loss at home was a 65-57 defeat to Wichita State on Jan. 24.

Jeff Horner scored a season-high 19 points and backcourt mate Mike Henderson tied a season best with 15 to lead Iowa to a 72-59 victory over Valparaiso in the championship game of the Hawkeye Challenge.

Henderson and Horner combined to score eight of the Hawkeyes’ first 13 points, and Horner added 12 in the final 9 1/2 minutes as Iowa put the game away.

For Horner, who was voted the tournament MVP, the performance offered relief from his shooting woes so far this season.

“I feel pretty good actually,” he said. “I’ve been struggling so bad shooting that I’ve had to find other things to do for this team, trying to take charges, get big steals and stuff like that. That’s all I’ve been doing.”

The Hawkeyes’ scoring burden had been falling on forward Greg Brunner, who scored 23 points in the opening- round win over Fairfield, and Adam Haluska, who led the Hawkeyes with 18 points in a victory earlier in the week over then-No. 24 North Carolina State. Haluska leads the team with 14.5 points per game.

Against Valparaiso, though, Horner and Henderson took control.

Iowa coach Steve Alford credited his backcourt for getting Iowa’s offense out of a slump that led to a season-low 45 points against N.C. State and a sluggish outing against Fairfield.

“The neat thing about it is that we’re in that position where we’ve got a long way to go as far as improving,” Alford said. “That’s nice to know. I don’t think we’ve come close to reaching what we’re capable of reaching. We’re pretty excited about it.”

Ben Jacobson scored 20 points and Eric Coleman added 17 points, six rebounds and three blocks to lead Northern Iowa past Loyola of Chicago 72-56 on Saturday.

The Panthers outscored Loyola 40-8 between the midway points of the first and second halves, and held the Ramblers to 33 percent shooting from the field. Northern Iowa is allowing 56.0 points per game.

Coleman leads Northern Iowa with 14.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

Iowa leads this all-time series 30-5.