How To Watch Iowa vs. Washington MBB:
- Date: Saturday, February 22
- Time: 3:00 p.m. CT
- Location: Carver-Hawkeye Arena (Iowa City, Iowa)
- How to watch (TV): FS1
- Streaming: Foxsportsgo.com
Preview:
The Iowa Hawkeyes (14-12, 15th in B1G) prepare to take on the Washington Huskies (13-13, 17th in B1G) in a must-win game at home in a Saturday afternoon clash. Iowa has been middling as of late, going 1-4 in their last 5 games as they continue to struggle after the loss of top scorer Owen Freeman to a season-ending injury. They welcome in a Huskies team that dropped one to Rutgers in OT and have gone 2-3 in their last 5 games. Washington has been one of the worst defensive teams in the NCAA allowing a whopping 52% from inside the arc (ranked 263rd) and 34% (ranked 211th) from 3-point land this season. The Hawkeyes will need a big W on Saturday afternoon as the Big 10 regular season is coming to a close. With the expanded Big 10 conference, new conference tournament rules dictate that the bottom 3 teams will not get a chance to play in the tourney, all but ending their seasons and "relegating" them to their couches in March. Iowa currently sits in 15th place in the conference, holding a slim advantage over Northwestern for the final spot.
Hawkeyes' Keys to Victory
The Hawkeyes have been struggling, failing to find consistency on both ends of the floor, and their near-.500 overall record confirms it. Under Coach Fran McCaffery, Iowa has been known to be a stout offensive team, but without their leading scorer in Owen Freeman, they will need to shore up the defensive end in order to maintain their current spot or improve their position in the conference tournament. The first area they need to improve is defending the 3-point line. In their last 5 games, they are allowing opposing teams to shoot nearly 42% from 3. Even just a slight improvement to under 40% in their next 5 games to close out the season would greatly help their chances, in my opinion. If this means disguising defenses a little more and working in their 1-2-2 press more often to force some early turnovers, I am all for that. Coupled with that, over the last 14+ seasons, the Hawkeyes are 98-3 when holding opponents under 61 points. It is imperative they step up their effort on that end of the floor and use their defense to lead to more offensive opportunities. They have shot 46.5% from the field over their last 5 and with more fast break and easy basket opportunities stemming from a higher intensity on the defensive end, they can go on a solid run to end the season. The next key to victory for the Hawkeyes is to limit turnovers. They have been one of the best teams in the entire country in terms of assist to turnover ratio (1.85) and they need to maintain that excellent pace if they want to continue into the postseason. You can't score if you're constantly giving the ball away, so Iowa needs to hang onto the rock to give their high-powered offense a chance. Finally, PROTECT YOUR HOUSE. This is the second to last game at Carver this year and these are all must wins at this stage of the season. Iowa has a tough test when Michigan State travels to Iowa City on March 6 for their final home game of the year, so they HAVE to beat a bad Washington team in their own building. The Hawkeyes need to treat this final stretch of games as elimination games because they have to make the Big 10 tournament and make some noise in order to get a shot at getting into the NCAA tournament. My confidence level that Iowa can make a push at the end of the season is about a 4/10 due to tough matchups @ Illinois (2/25), vs. Michigan State (3/6) and a rivalry game in Lincoln vs. Nebraska (3/9) to close out the regular season. If they can beat the teams they should beat, aka Washington and Northwestern (both currently sit below them in the standings going into Saturday), this will put them in a good position to hold onto the last spot for the conference tournament. The ball is in their court and they need to start a winning streak to ensure the don't miss out on postseason play all together.