Iowa basketball: Hawks haven’t beaten Bearcats since 1980
By Andrew Wade
The Iowa basketball team has played the Cincinnati Bearcats just eight times in their history. Here’s an overview of that brief history.
With the 2019 NCAA Tournament bracket officially revealed, we found out that the Iowa basketball team would square off against the Cincinnati Bearcats for the ninth team in these two team’s histories.
Coincidentally enough, these two teams are actually scheduled to play later this year in the 2019-2020 college basketball season as part of a doubleheader at the United Center in Chicago. For obvious reasons, this game is a little more important though.
Friday’s meeting though will be the first time these two teams have played each other since 2005, which is a 14-year gap.
The last time the Hawkeyes met the Bearcats in a basketball game was March 17, 2005 in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Oddly enough, in that game, the Iowa basketball came in as the 10th seed with Cincinnati being the 7th. Hopefully, Friday’s outcome won’t mirror that game though as the Iowa basketball team fell 76-64.
The history between these two schools hasn’t exactly been kind to the Iowa basketball team. In their eight meetings, the Hawks have won just two times, and the most recent victory was back in 1980 during the Lute Olsen era (now how is that for jumping back in time). Prior to that, the only other win for the Iowa basketball team came in 1966 when an unranked Hawkeye squad knocked off the 7th-ranked Bearcats. Needless to say, Iowa’s winning percentage versus Cincinnati is less than ideal.
Clocking in at .250, this is the Hawks second-lowest winning percentage against a team they have faced eight or more times (which is 29 teams).
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Like I said earlier, hopefully Friday’s game features a much different outcome than history suggests. For the sake of Iowa basketball fans, a win here would be huge for the trajectory of the program going forward considering Fran McCaffery has just three NCAA Tournament wins to his name as head coach of the Hawks.