Iowa at Purdue: 2021-22 key storylines for Big Ten matchup opener

Stopping Ivey

The scary thing for Iowa – and the rest of the NCAA – is the fact that having to stop the 7’4 Edey is not the biggest problem the Hawkeyes have. That honor goes to the problem of how Fran McCaffery is going to contain Jaden Ivey. Ivey is connecting on over 50 percent of his field goals and the 37 percent three-point shooter connected on 4 of 6 from beyond the arc versus Florida State.

At 6’4 / 200 pounds, the second-year guard is a matchup nightmare for the Hawkeyes. The option McCaffery has among his backcourt starters are 6’0 /190 Joe Toussaint or 6’1 /175  Jordan Bohannon, neither have the physical attributes to defend Ivey. The issue of the Hawkeyes’ lack of size to challenge Ivey is compounded by the fact that Ivey is plagued by the third-most turnovers on the Boilermakers at 2.2 per game. With Ivey being capable of doing what he wants – with ease- on the court, the turnovers will not come at the over two per game pace they are on.

At 6’9, Patrick McCaffery does not have the foot speed to prevent the dribble drive by Ivey, and McCaffery picking up Ivey would leave one of the undersized backcourt players to defend Sasha Stefanovic. This would produce the unfavorable by-product of surrendering a number of easy looks for the 47 percent three-point shooter to increase his average makes per game to over the 3.2 he connects on currently.