Iowa basketball: Hawks need to recover quickly before facing Minnesota

The Iowa basketball team has a quick turnaround after losing to Michigan State Thursday night. Here’s the preview of tomorrow’s game vs Minnesota.

Losing to Michigan State the way the Iowa basketball team did Thursday night can be season-defining. Getting blown out at home after a strong stretch of five straight wins in the Big Ten can certainly knock a team down a few rungs, but how the Hawks respond will tell us everything we need to know about this team. Plus, there were some really great positives that came out of that game.

But the questions still remain.

Can they handle adversity? Can they win against weaker opponents on the road consistently? How do Jordan Bohannon, Isaiah Moss, and Joe Wieskamp bounce back after disappointing performances?

Fortunately for the Hawks, their opponent tomorrow is not the cream of the crop in the Big Ten. Minnesota, however, isn’t a bad team. In fact, their basketball team is very similar to their 2018 football program; generally inconsistent.

The Gophers basketball squad is currently 14-5 with four losses in the Big Ten to #5 Michigan (by two points on the road), 10th placed Illinois (in a 27-point blowout), to #13 Maryland (in a 15-point blowout at home), and to Ohio State. They do, however, have wins over Wisconsin and Nebraska (both projected to be in the NCAA tournament)

According to KenPom, Minnesota has a very balanced team. Offensively, they are ranked 79th in the nation and defensively, they are ranked 65th in the nation.

Playing mostly man defense, the Gophers are most often burned from behind the arc and at the free throw line, ranking near the bottom-100 in each of those defensive categories. Despite playing man defense, the Gophers aren’t keen on forcing turnovers (they are ranked 232nd in defensive turnover percentage and 265th in steals percentage), and they aren’t as liable to commit fouls. As it stands today, the Gophers are 118th in the nation in fouls per game.

Offensively, they are led by junior Amir Coffey, a 6’8” guard who is averaging 15.4 points in 33.1 minutes per game. While the points may look good, his shooting percentages are sub par as he shoots just over 40% from the field and under 30% from three. Senior Jordan Murphy, a 6’6” forward is leading the team in rebounds with 12.1 per game while also sitting in second in points per game with 14.1. He is also arguably the team’s best defender.

My guess is they try to match Murphy up on Tyler Cook with Coffey defending star freshman Joe Wieskamp.

At center, Luka Garza will have his hands full trying to deal with 6’10” freshman Daniel Oturo who is averaging 10.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in 22 minutes. What’s most impressive though is that he is shooting 57% from the field. This will be a challenge for Garza on the defensive side of the ball, but offensively, the Iowa basketball team should be able to take advantage of Oturo’s penchant for foul trouble (he’s averaging 3.1 fouls per game).

For the Iowa basketball team, they will need to continue playing stout defense as the Gophers have four players averaging over ten points, but on the plus side, the Gophers are the second worst team in shooting the ball from behind the arc so Iowa’s zone defense will likely focus on providing help to the paint.

This Big Ten matchup will tip off at 4 PM CST at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, and it will be aired on FS1. As it stands today, ESPN is giving the Iowa basketball team a 57% chance of winning this game while KenPom is giving Iowa a 54% chance of winning this game.

Either way, with the Hawks in the midst of a very difficult four-game stretch, they badly need this win to ensure they don’t go on a four-game losing streak right in the heart of Big Ten play.