Syracuse vs Iowa: 2019-20 college basketball game preview, TV schedule
Syracuse will welcome Iowa to the Carrier Dome for an ACC-Big Ten Challenge match-up. Can the Orange get back to winning ways or will the Hawkeyes get the job done?
TV schedule: Tuesday, December, 7:00 pm ET, ESPN 2.
Arena: Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY.
As their last two games have taken them back to the bitter reality of this college basketball season, the Syracuse Orange, now 4-3, will look to get their season back on track in this ACC-Big Ten Challenge match-up with Iowa. The Hawkeyes have started the season 5-2, dropping two winnable games to DePaul and San Diego State in the process. They did, however, get a big road win at Texas Tech, Thursday night. This will prove to be another hard task for the Orange against a tough Iowa side.
Syracuse will have to put the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament behind them completely, and focus us the schedule ahead. There were next to no positives to take from their two games in Brooklyn, over which they shot 33.6% from the field as a team. A slow start against Oklahoma State in their Semi Final game took a toll on the players and ultimately set the tone for the rest of that match-up and seemed to carry on into their consolation game with Penn State.
The Orange have got to get back to shooting high percentage shots and using their bigger bodies inside like they did ever so well on their four game winning streak prior to their tournament appearance last week. Scoring leader Elijah Hughes did record 47-points over the two games though, and he remains astoundingly important to his team.
For Iowa, after defeating #12 Texas Tech in the opening round of the Las Vegas Invitational, they weren’t able to follow-up and win the tournament. They fell to San Diego State 83-73, after having a 13-point lead. The Aztecs aren’t a side to be talked lightly about though, they boast a current record of 8-0. During the second half of Iowa’s game with the Aztecs, they conceded 51 points, which is pretty insane. Now, Syracuse aren’t going to be as clinical as a lot of offences, but if they get a bunch of good looks, there’s always a chance that the Orange will be able to out-score the Iowa offence.
The Orange will have to be very wary of Iowa center Luka Garza. The junior is averaging 19.6 PPG in 27.6 MPG on 56.3/47.1% shooting splits. He’s also averaging 10.1 RPG. He’s a threat on both ends and has the ability to cause the Syracuse zone plenty of trouble over all areas of the half court. What Garza is able to do against a tough defence to play against will be something to look out for. Iowa have gone deep into their bench a lot through their first seven games. Eleven players have over double figures in terms of minutes per game. There’s plenty of scoring for them too, with CJ Fredrick and Joe Wieskamp averaging 11.1 and 10.9 PPG respectively.
Iowa’s offence will cause Syracuse their biggest problems, while Syracuse’s defence will cause Iowa their biggest problems. For Syracuse, it’s going to be a matter of being somewhat competitive on the offensive end. If they can knock down the chances that the Iowa defence gives them, then they’ve got a decent chance of winning the game. For Iowa, breaking down the Syracuse defence will prove to be a challenging task, but they certainly have the tools to do this, it’s just putting it into action come Tuesday night.
Next. Top 25 power rankings. dark
Syracuse desperately need to pick up a win here, and Iowa will be looking to bounce back from their breakdown in their last game. So it should make for a hardly fought battle.