The Iowa basketball team already was on a roll. The Hawkeyes already were a tough team to prepare for, a team comprised mostly of juniors and seniors seemingly starting to play with more consistency as the end of the regular season approached.

And now Aaron White is throwing in 3-point field goals.

Upcoming opponents have to be scratching their heads and wondering What do we do now?"

Hes just shooting it with confidence," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said of White as he prepared his team for a 5:05 p.m. road test today at Penn State. If he keeps doing that, it changes everything in terms of how people need to guard us."

White fired in a career-best 29 points in a victory over Illinois on Wednesday night and mingled in with the usual assortment of dunks, free throws and headlong drives to the hoop were three 3-pointers. He also had two threes in the previous game against Nebraska and went 5 for 6 from long range in those two games.

White insists he has always had confidence in his 3-point shooting and McCaffery said his 6-foot-9 senior forward always has had the green light. But the fact remains that he was just 9 for 39 (23.1 percent) in the first 26 games of the season and 49-197 (24.9) in his career until this past week.

Its kind of frustrating that at the end of my career theyre finally going in," White said. Im sure the fans are like Where did this come from? Shoot, I made two (Wednesday night) and the Illinois coach is still yelling He cant shoot. I thought OK, Ill pull another one."

White, like McCaffery, figures that if he can continue do this, its going to radically alter the way upcoming opponents defend the Hawkeyes.

Its way easier to play when my shot is falling," said White, who moved up to No. 4 on Iowas career scoring list Wednesday. It opens up my drive and I can make plays for others. Its not easy to drive when they know Im driving."

The Hawkeyes (18-10 overall, 9-6 Big Ten) have won five of their past seven games but they also face a fairly formidable defensive task today.

Read more:

Red-hot White gives Hawks added dimension