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Iowa basketball: Hawks get nice tune-up game vs Cal Poly

By Andrew Wade

COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 24: Joe Wieskamp #10 of the Iowa Hawkeyes dunks the ball against the Tennessee Volunteers during their game in the Second Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 24, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 24: Joe Wieskamp #10 of the Iowa Hawkeyes dunks the ball against the Tennessee Volunteers during their game in the Second Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 24, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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Before heading to Las Vegas, the Iowa basketball team gets an easy tune-up game today against Cal Polytechnic State University.

Through four games, I am sure most Iowa basketball fans expected this team to be 4-0, but two Mondays ago was a bit rough for the Hawks. They got blown out at home by a team projected to finish at the bottom of the Big East, and they lost out on top in-state recruit Xavier Foster.

After that embarrassing defeat, the Iowa basketball team did rebound to knock off Oral Roberts and North Florida, neither of which are considered good, let alone average, D-1 teams.

Now, the Iowa basketball team gets a matchup with one of the worst teams on their schedule, Cal Poly today, and barring a colossal collapse, the Hawks should easily emerge victoriously.

Cal Poly is the 324th ranked team according to KenPom and their advanced analytics system is giving the Hawks a 98% chance to win. ESPN is giving Iowa a slightly lower chance to win at 96%, but nonetheless, it is easy to see this should be a win for the Hawks at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

To date, Cal Poly is 1-4 with their lone win coming against a non-D-1 program. Neither offensively or defensively is there much to like about this Mustangs team, and they aren’t a very big team with their center standing at 6’10” and 4 spot standing at 6’6”.

Their 67.4 points per game ranks 266th in the nation and their 72.2 points per game allowed isn’t much better ranking 245th in the nation. The only thing that scares me is how well Cal Poly is shooting from the 3-point line. Their 41.8% shooting percentage from behind the arc ranks 18th in the nation, and while they don’t shoot a ton of threes, this is worrisome for an Iowa defense that hasn’t shown they can defend the perimeter well.

From a matchup perspective, with Luka Garza coming out hot this season, I expect a big game for him as he has a nice matchup down low against sophomore center Tuukka Jaakkola.

Next. Five toughest games on Iowa's schedule. dark

Tip-off for today’s game is at 4 PM central standard time, and it will be aired on the Big Ten Network.

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