Iowa Basketball: Round of 32 Against Villanova

For the second straight season, the Iowa Basketball team has advanced to the round of 32. Last year, they met their match in the Gonzaga Bulldogs. This year, they meet the regular season Big East Champs, the Villanova Wildcats.

The Wildcats are 30-5. That’s a lot of wins.

This begs the question; how do you actually beat this team? They’ve got four guys that average double figures and are led by one of the best shooting guards in the country in Josh Hart, who averages 15.3 points per game. Kris Jenkins, Ryan Arcidiacono, and Daniel Ochefu all join Hart in double figures.

Villanova’s coming out party came about two and a half years ago down at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. After they defeated Kansas by four in the semi-final game, they advanced to play the Hawkeyes in the championship game. They defeated Iowa by five in overtime to earn the win.

Four Wildcats that played significant minutes in that game will be playing in this one as well. For the Hawkeyes, it’s the same story. Mike Gesell, Adam Woodbury, Anthony Clemmons, Jarrod Uthoff, and Peter Jok all played against the Wildcats two seasons ago. So, there is some familiarity there.

More from Dear Old Gold

I went ahead and looked at the five losses the Wildcats have this season and they all seem to be pretty similar.

They were out-rebounded in four of the five contests, which is something the Hawkeyes should be able to take advantage of. It is something the Wildcats rank near the bottom of the Big East in and Iowa has to exploit that if they want to win.

Another thing I noticed is; other teams shot it well. The Hawkeyes haven’t shot it well in a while. Even in the win over Temple, Iowa shot 35 percent from the floor. What helped, was limiting themselves to just three turnovers.

Iowa is going to need to shoot 45 percent or better to win this game.

Villanova is a talented team and they are well-coached. They’ll be sharp and if Iowa is not, Villanova could run away with the game.

If they can get 25+ points from either Jok or Uthoff, that will help too. In Villanova’s loss to Providence, Ben Bentil scored 31 points to lead the Friars to a victory. In the Big East Championship game, Seton Hall’s Isaiah Whitehead scored 26 points to lead the Pirates to a slim victory.

Next: Five Hawks to Watch in NCAA Tourney

The Wildcats and Hawkeyes have two common opponents in Nebraska and Temple. Villanova beat Nebraska early in the year by 24 and beat Temple mid-way through the year by 16. Iowa beat Nebraska by 11 in their only meeting and beat Temple by two on Friday.

This probably isn’t the matchup Villanova was hoping for, considering Iowa has the ability to play like a top five team in the nation.

Villanova's Josh Hart impressed with Iowa: "They're not a 7 seed."
— Chad Leistikow🆑 (@ChadLeistikow) March 19, 2016

While they are in fact, a seven seed, Iowa wasn’t playing like that early on in the year. If Iowa gets some of the same production it got from the bench and from their role guys, Villanova will be in for a dog fight. So far, it’s been nothing but respect from Villanova in regards to the Hawkeyes.

Jay Wright on Jarrod Uthoff: "We don't have a body like that ... If he posts us up we're going to be in trouble."
— Chad Leistikow🆑 (@ChadLeistikow) March 19, 2016

And it’s been nothing but confidence coming from the Hawkeyes in regards to the game Sunday morning, but that isn’t anything new.

Of all the two seeds, I think Iowa got the easiest draw in the Wildcats. Some may argue Xavier, but when I look at things, it’s Villanova. This is a team Iowa is familiar with, and they’ll have some advantages today.

Villanova and Iowa will tip at 11:10 a.m. CT in Brooklyn, NY.