Iowa Basketball: 3 keys to Round of 64 upset over Cincinnati

Iowa Basketball received no favors from the committee by drawing the Cincinnati Bearcats in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

The Iowa Hawkeyes are starting the 2019 NCAA Tournament with a true road game.

As the 10-seed in the South Region, the Hawkeyes are set to face the Cincinnati Bearcats in the first round of the Big Dance.

Normally, a first round victory for a 10-seed over a 7-seed wouldn’t be termed an “upset.” For most of these matchups, the lower-seeded team isn’t more than about ten spots behind the higher-seeded team in the polls.

This game, however, is different for one significant reason: venue.

No, the game isn’t preposterously far from Iowa when looking at a map of the United States. But the game is in Columbus, Ohio, meaning the Bearcats don’t even have to leave their home state to play this game. Crowd momentum should clearly be on the side of Cincinnati.

That doesn’t mean the Bearcats are going to blow the Hawkeyes out by 20 points.

Iowa is still a battle-tested team that has been through the ringer this season, but come out the other side. Their play of late has been a bit worrisome, but they have the talent to beat Cincinnati; they might even have the talent to pull a bigger upset down the road.

First things first: they have to get through Cincinnati. The Bearcats have the clear advantage on the NCAA’s paper, ranking 25th in the NET, while Iowa ranks 43rd in the NET. Cincinnati also opens as a four-point favorite according to odds from Las Vegas.

So how is Iowa going to get through them? Here are three keys to a Hawkeyes victory.