Iowa basketball: Hawks look to secure another Q1 win over Buckeyes

The Iowa basketball team heads to Columbus to try and boost their resume with a possible quadrant 1 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes.

My oh my have the times changed. The first time these two teams met, the Buckeyes were ranked #16 in the nation with a 12-3 record while the Iowa basketball team was unranked despite a 14-3 record (with all three of those losses coming to top-25 teams for whatever it’s worth).

Now, the Hawkeyes are ranked #22 with a 20-6 record (and an almost guaranteed entry to the NCAA Tournament) and the Ohio State Buckeyes are unranked with a 17-10 record and clinging on to a projected automated bid to the NCAA Tournament (albeit a #9 seed).

A win by either team tomorrow evening in Columbus would be a resume booster for both programs. The Iowa basketball team sitting right at 30 in the NET Rankings provide an opportunity for the Buckeyes to get a quadrant 1 win on their home court while the 42nd ranked Buckeyes also provide a quadrant 1 win opportunity for Fran McCaffery’s squad.

The last time these two faced off, the Hawks ran away with an easy 72-62 victory over the Buckeyes despite shooting a horrendous 25% from three-pointer. It helped that Ohio State committed 25 turnovers in the loss though.

Since that time, the Hawkeyes have won 7 of their last 10 games whereas the Buckeyes have won just 5 of their last 11 games. Chris Holtmann’s squad, though, is not a team to sleep on. They still have dynamic forward Kaleb Wesson who is leading the team in points, rebounds, and blocks while also shooting 36% from behind the arc. Moreover, the Buckeyes still possess one of the best defenses in the country. Currently, they are allowing just 64.3 points per game, which is 26th best in the nation and according to KenPom, their defensive adjusted efficiency is 18th best in the nation.

As we noted last time though, Ohio State lacks two things that the Iowa basketball team possesses: height and experience. The Buckeyes feature just one guy over 6’6” in their starting lineup and they typically run out three guys 6’3” or smaller at a time. Furthermore, out of their top ten players, only three of those players are juniors or seniors.

With the way the Hawks have been playing lately, needing all 40 minutes of game time to close the deal, the experience and mental toughness will become a huge factor, especially on the road.

While I did predict this to be Iowa’s only loss in their remaining slate of regular season games, I do think there is a very strong possibility of them walking away victorious if they can shoot the ball better than they have the past few games and avoid the slow starts that have murdered their momentum.

Vegas doesn’t necessarily agree as they are giving Iowa 1.5 points while KenPom gives Iowa a 42% chance of winning and ESPN gives the Hawks a 36% chance of winning.

Tip-off for this game is at 6 PM Central Standard Time and will be aired on the Big Ten Network.