By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Iowa’s men’s basketball team isn’t going to be in Columbus, Ohio very long.

The Hawkeyes play Ohio State on Monday night, but Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said on Sunday it’s a business trip that won’t take long to complete.

McCaffery said the first decision is whether to have practice before leaving on the trip, or practicing when the team gets to their destination. The Hawkeyes were practicing in Iowa City on Sunday before leaving for Columbus.

“So we’ll get there. We’ll go to the hotel,” McCaffery said. “We’ll have a meeting. We’ll go to dinner. We’ll have another meeting. Go to bed, get up, have breakfast. Have a meeting. Go to shootaround. Come back after shootaround. Have a meeting. Have a pregame meal. Go to the game, come home.”

McCaffery said the goal is to make sure a player’s time is occupied.

They’re studying their scouting report because they’re going to be asked questions about it, so they’re going to have to know it,” McCaffery said. “They have the flexibility, if there is some time,to go outside sometimes. This time of year, of course, it’s too cold to do that. But they can certainly leave the hotel and go for a walk or whatever. But our guys pretty much stay locked into when the meetings are, when we eat . When you charter, there’s just not a lot of down time.”

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT: The Hawkeyes (13-7 overall, 4-5 Big Ten, 62 NET) would like to get a road win against the Buckeyes (11-8, 3-5, 29 NET) to wrap up the first half of the conference schedule.

Ohio State snapped a three-game losing streak last Tuesday with a 73-70 win at Purdue. The Buckeyes are a half-game behind the Hawkeyes in the Big Ten standings.

Guard Bruce Thornton leads Ohio State in scoring at 17.1 points per game. He also leads in assists per game (4.3) and field-goal percentage (.523).

“Thornton is a really special player,” McCaffery said. “I’ve been impressed with him from the minute he came into this league. He is a true definition of a gamer. He has a really good feel, he’s a really intelligent guy. So you surround him with good players and that makes him even that much more difficult to deal with. They have a really talented group, but it starts with him. He’s the key to it all.”

Jake Diebler, in his first full season as the Buckeyes’ head coach after finishing last season as the interim coach, had to do a major rebuild of the roster in the offseason.

“He’s done a terrific job,” McCaffery said. “He did a really good job last year. He had to put his roster together, which is a challenge for everybody anymore. But he did a really good job of that.”

MORE MULVEY: Fourth-year junior center Riley Mulvey has played in the last three games after playing in just seven before this recent stretch.

Mulvey played 13 minutes in the 93-70 loss at UCLA on January 17, then played three minutes in last Tuesday’s 72-67 loss to Minnesota and four minutes in Friday’s 76-75 win over Penn State.

“He was playing really well in practice. So he’s earned those minutes,” McCaffery said. “He knows what to do. He knows what we want. He is the ultimate team guy, so there’s no selfishness about him at all. He screens, he rebounds, he runs, he defends, and he’s smart. So that stuff equates to winning typically.”

McCaffery likes Mulvey’s demeanor.

“He’s a happy kid,” McCaffery said. “He loves the game, does whatever he can to help our team, whether it means being on the scout team and not playing the game, playing the game, being on the floor at the end of the game, whatever it takes to help our team. He’s incredibly supportive of his teammates, roots for those guys. Just really a dream to have in the locker room.

“He’s got a great sense of humor. It’s just fun to watch a guy that continues to develop, because there was a time when he wasn’t playing much.”

HARDING’S PLAY: Sophomore guard Brock Harding has had 17 assists in the last three games, but also 11 turnovers.

“He’s just got to make the simple play,” McCaffery said. “When he does that, that’s when you see those nine (assists)-one (turnover) games.. He knows that he can’t turn the ball over four or five times.”

Photo: Iowa coach Fran McCaffery (center) stands for the national anthem at the January 14 game at USC. (Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire)