On Saturday, Iowa looks to bounce back after a loss to Ohio State when they host Rutgers, with their slim hopes of a top-4 finish still alive. Here is a preview of the key game for the Hawkeyes.
TV Schedule: Saturday, March 2nd, 5:00p.m. ET, Big Ten Network
Arena: Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, IA
On Saturday the 22nd ranked Iowa Hawkeyes (21-7,10-7) will look to earn a season sweep over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (13-14, 6-11) when Steve Pikiell’s squad heads to Carver-Hawkeye Arena hoping to play spoiler as the Big Ten season winds down. Fran McCaffery’s Hawkeyes have been the have been raising the pulses and heart rates of their fanbase of late. Despite going 5-3 over their last eight games, only two were decided by more than six points, and even one of those was a six-point contest, an overtime win over Indiana.
The Hawkeyes went unbeaten in the non-conference portion of their schedule, but are now 10-7 in Big Ten action, looking up at five other teams. Since falling to Minnesota on Jan. 27 Iowa is 6-2, with one loss coming to then No. 24 ranked Maryland at home when Bruno Fernando gave the Terrapins the lead with 11 seconds left and the other a 20-point drubbing at the hands of Ohio State last time out. Iowa is one of those teams that can beat you in a myriad of ways. They can use their #2 offense among Big Ten teams to hang 92 on you, as they did to Nebraska, or they can beat you with their defense as they did six days later, holding Ohio State to 62 points.
The lone senior in the eight-man rotation is forward Nicholas Baer who averages 6.4 points and 4.7 rebounds, aside from Baer, the Hawkeyes’ top-five point getters consist of three juniors, a sophomore, and a freshman. In fact, these five players have led the team in scoring in every game this season and in rebounding all but four times. 6-9 forward Tyler Cook leads the juniors and the team in both scoring and rebounding with 15.8 and 8.1 respectively.
Sophomore Luka Garza trails Cook in both categories at 13 and 4.7 and at 6-11 gives the Hawkeyes one of the better frontcourt duos in the conference. The other three key components to the Hawkeye offense are juniors Jordan Bohannon (who has had a recent streak of clutchness) and Isaiah Moss along with freshman Joe Wieskamp, the three combine for 32.5 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 6.3 assists, the trio is also deadly from beyond the arc, shooting 42.7% on the year.
Rutgers is a different team when they play on the road, of their 13 wins only three have come on the road. The Scarlet Knights’ two road wins during Big Ten play have come against the two bottom teams in the conference, Penn State and Northwestern, the other in late November against Miami as a part of the ACC/Big Ten challenge, the three wins came by a total of 10 points. When They play in the confines of the RAC they surrender just over 65 points per game, but on the road, they give up nearly 74 per game. In Big Ten play those numbers grow to 68 points per game at home and 76 on the road.
Offensively, the Scarlet Knights rank 300th or worse in the country in scoring offense (67.4), field goal percentage (41.4%), three-point field goals per game (6.2), three-point field goal percentage (31.4%), and free throw percentage (62.7%), so facing the conference’s second-best offense will probably be a tough task. They are a deep team with 10 players that have played in at least 23 games while averaging at least 14 minutes per game, but just two average double figures and a third puts in nine per game.
Junior forward Eugene Omoruyi is the team’s leading scorer and rebounder with 13.6 points and 7.6 boards, sophomore guard Geo Baker is 2nd on the team in scoring with 13.1 points, the 6-4 New Hampshire native is the top three-point shooter on the team at 35.4%. The other eight players in the rotation average no more than 6.8 points per game, but they do pull down over 26 of the team’s 39 rebounds.
Key Matchup
The key matchup in this game will be between the team’s leading scorers and power forwards, Omuroyi and Cook. This game is going to be an uphill battle for Rutgers, so they will need a big game from their big man to stay in it. If Cook has a big game, this one will turn out to be a blowout.
An Iowa team that is playing well, and this game being at home is a bad recipe for the visiting Scarlet Knights. This should be a runaway win by the home team, the Hawkeyes win this one by at least 15 points.