Iowa basketball: Can the Hawks match up with the #13 Oregon Ducks?

The 2-0 Iowa basketball team faces it’s first real challenge Thursday evening when they take on the #13 Oregon Ducks in the 2K Empire Class in New York.

After jumping out to an expected 2-0 start with wins over the University of Missouri – Kansas City Kangaroos and the Green Bay Phoenix, the men’s Iowa basketball team faces their first real challenge Thursday night as they prepare to take on the #13 Oregon Ducks. For an Iowa basketball team that is looking to get back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2015-2016 season, this game is a great first test as the Hawkeyes prepare for their daunting Big Ten slate of games.

The Oregon Ducks, widely considered the favorites to win the Pac-12, feature one of the most transcendent recruits in recent history, Bol Bol. Bol, the 7’2” son of former NBA player Manute Bol headlines an Ducks 2018 recruiting class that ranked third in the nation right behind Duke and Kentucky. Along with Bol, the Ducks convinced another five-star recruit, 6’8” forward Louis King, in addition to three four-star recruits (Will Richardson, Francis Okoro, and Miles Norris) to sign with the program and begin playing this season.

For those of you keeping track, Oregon has more five-star recruits in this class along than Iowa has ever had, although freshman Joe Wieskamp was pretty close.

Those star pupils join a Ducks roster that returns two starters including Payton Pritchard who was named second team All-Pac 12 last season.

Needless to say, this team is stacked and posed to make a deep postseason run in the NCAA tournament. They also pose a challenge to an Iowa basketball team that is still figuring out it’s identity. In two games against weak competition, the Hawks have allowed opposing teams to hang in the game due to semi-porous defense and poor shooting from behind the arc. They are also tinkering with the lineup as they figure out what is the best fit to maximize the talent at hand.

The Ducks are heading into this game also sitting at 2-0 with easy wins over Eastern Washington and Portland State. In those two wins, the 7’2” Bol already has two double-doubles and seven blocks total, and he 1-3 from behind the arc.

Fran McCaffrey’s team will need to figure out how to contain the size and athleticism that Oregon has, and they will need to do it quickly otherwise this game could get out of hand. With that being said, when Connor McCaffrey is in the lineup, the Iowa basketball team does possess a unique combination of length, height, and athleticism that could maybe cause issues against Oregon’s starting line up that features just two people under the height of 6’9”.

Tipoff for this game is set to take place at 815 CST and will be aired on ESPN2.

I’m not a big fan of moral victories, but if Iowa can keep this close while they are still figuring out their team identity, that’s a win in my book this early in the season.

Post-game, check back here for a recap and analysis of the Hawks performance.