Iowa and Iowa State will do battle for state supremacy this Friday. Can the Cyclones pull off a potential major upset?
TV schedule: Friday, December 11, 9 p.m. ET, BTN
Arena: Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa
Coming into this highly contested affair, these teams are trending in two completely different directions. Iowa has started this season red hot, especially on Tuesday after a statement win over #16 North Carolina. Meanwhile, for Iowa State, they are coming off a lackluster performance and loss to South Dakota State.
At the beginning of the decade, this was a matchup that was dominated by the Cyclones. From 2009-2015, Iowa State won six of the seven matchups. Ever since then, Iowa has taken three of the last four, with all three wins being by 14+.
An easy candidate in early December for National POTY has been Iowa’s Luka Garza. He has averaged 29 points per game in the young season and is coming off a 16-point, 14-rebound performance against the Tar Heels. The only way you can contain the senior phenom up to this point is having a lot of big body players defending him in rotation. North Carolina did a good job at this with three 6’10 players. Garza shot just 6-20 on the night but made plays when he needed to.
Garzilla will not be denied! @LukaG_55 gets a basket on the way down. @IowaHoops pic.twitter.com/4r7i4F67at
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) December 9, 2020
The rest of the Hawkeyes are no joke either, as they have an elite backcourt and shoot great from beyond the arc. The trio of Joe Wieskamp, CJ Frederick, and Jordan Bohannon combined for 17 three-pointers in their last affair. It isn’t the most athletic group and they are pedestrian defenders. However, if you pay too much attention to Garza, the guards will light up the scoreboard.
Steve Prohm is coming off a very underwhelming 12-20 campaign last season. The situation doesn’t look much better in Ames, as they lost a buy game to South Dakota State, 71-68. The Cyclones shot 4-23 from beyond the arc and got outrebounded by the Jackrabbits. One of the bright spots from the game was the performance of Solomon Young.
Jalen Coleman-Lands said let's go to OT! ❄️
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) December 5, 2019
Cc: @DePaulHoops pic.twitter.com/sgPs2nimtW
The redshirt senior has spent a rare five years with the Cyclones and was the best offensive player in their previous game. Young went for 24 points on 11-17 shooting from the field, all inside the three-point line. Young hasn’t been a huge impact over the past three years as he has combined for just 22 points in the previous three games.
Another notable player for the Cyclones has been Depaul transfer G Jalen Coleman-Lands. The Sixth year player has been the leading scorer up to this point and averages 14.5 through the first few games. The Cyclones can match the Hawkeyes in terms of experience, as they are among the best in the country. All five starters are upperclassmen, including Coleman-Lands and Tyler Harris (Memphis) as Transfers.
Question in the back for @jasonbenetti:
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) December 9, 2020
Is your voice hoarse from calling all 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣 of these @IowaHoops threes? 🥤 pic.twitter.com/qjWASlTvjj
The Cyclones, however, does not have much height down low, with Solomon Young playing the five while standing at just 6-8. Iowa State is going to have to have their best shooting night of the season and hope Iowa hits a cold spell.
Even if Garza has an off game, Iowa proved that they are not one-dimensional, with a plethora of guys that can flat out score. The Cyclones couldn’t handle SDSU as they gave up 43 percent from the field and 36 from beyond the arc. Iowa should continue to play well on offense and give Prohm the same issues that this team gave Roy Williams for 40 minutes.
Prediction: #3 Iowa 91, Iowa State 74