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

1. Block the ball

There aren’t many commonalities across the board for Cincinnati’s six losses. Frankly, the sample size is too small to take away much anyways – six losses is a very few number for a full college basketball season.

Here’s an oddity, though: when Cincinnati is blocked three times or fewer in a game, they’re 17-0. They’re a much more manageable 11-6 when they’re blocked at least four times in a game. That record falls to 7-5 when they’re swatted five times in a contest.

Blocking the ball isn’t a particularly strong suit for the Hawkeyes, who average 3.3 blocks per game. Nicholas Baer is the only player who averages at least a swat a game.

Still, the Hawkeyes know the value of some well-timed rejections. Iowa has not lost a game this season when they’ve put five blocks into the box score. Most of those victories weren’t even particularly close.

Iowa will have to rorate on the defensive end to exploit any size mismatches. Against the Bearcats, those may be hard to come by – Cincinnati is a tall and long team (and athletic, to boot).

Securing a win during Friday’s matinee won’t be a walk in the park for Iowa. It would be foolish to count them out against the Bearcats, though.