Gonzaga vs Iowa: 5 biggest storylines for epic No. 1 vs No. 3 battle

Locking down the perimeter

The most frustrating part of playing against Iowa is not that a team can only hope of slowing down Garza, for his 25 to 30 points a night is to be expected. It becomes frustrating to the point of being disheartening when there are at least five other players who are capable of scoring close to twenty points on any particular night.

A reality North Carolina learned when Iowa had a 17-2 run against the Tar Heels while Coach McCaffery was protecting Garza by keeping him on the bench when he picked up more fouls than Coach McCaffery was comfortable with.

In Iowa’s first game of the season, Patrick McCaffery came off the bench to score sixteen, versus Southern as Joe Weiskamp scored sixteen of his own. Those supporting Garza in the following games included Jack Nunge with18 and who scored 17 in another game, as well as both Jordan Bohannon with 24 and CJ Frederick with 21 versus North Carolina.

A large number of open looks that the Hawkeyes’ guards get is due to the defense doubling down on Garza, then having to rotate and recover. Rotating versus Iowa is difficult because they are so prolific from beyond the arc.

As a team, they connect on over eleven three-pointers per game which is ninth in the nation, while connecting on nearly 40 percent as a team. As defenses rotate they must be wary of the three-point attempt as they recover, the Iowa guards are more than happy to pump fake, hit the hole, kick out and swing.

With Timme battling Garza in the paint, Gonzaga will be able to use their big guards to prevent the Iowa guards from getting any dribble penetration that would force a perimeter defender to sink, thus repeating the kick, pump fake, swing, find an open shooter. At the perimeter, 6’7 Corey Kispert outweighs 6’6 Wesikamp by 10 pounds, while Suggs, Nembhard, and Ayayi will be quick enough to defend and wear down 6’1 Bohannon, 6’3 Frederick, and 6’5 Connor McCaffery.