The 9-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes (21-11, 10-10) took care of business after a shaky start against Maryland and will take on the 8-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes (20-11, 12-8). OSU bounced back from their loss to Iowa with wins against Purdue, Penn State, and Indiana to both jump the Hawks in the conference standings and strengthen their case as a tournament team after being pretty bubbly at the time of the matchup.
In Iowa’s win, they held them to their fourth least efficient game offensively. The other 3?
Two against Michigan and their first Power 4 game of the season vs. Notre Dame. If Iowa can put together another strong defensive performance, that’ll go a long way.
Bruce Thornton had just 10 points on 3/8 shooting in the first matchup as Iowa contained him well. John Mobley, Jr. (the league leader in 3-point shooting) & Amare Bynum hit early threes during the Buckeyes 14-2 run but the Hawks put it away early with a 33-4 run which spanned nearly 12 minutes of the first half.
That’d be nice to replicate as Ben McCollum looks to get his 32nd straight win in a conference tournament. Outside of the Iowa game, OSU is playing their best basketball of the season as Bart Torvik has them as 6 of their last 7 game scores are over 90.
#9 Iowa Hawkeyes (21-11, 10-10) vs Ohio State Buckeyes (20-11, 12-8)
Same bat time: Today, 3/12, at 11:00 AM, Big Ten Network (Jeff Levering, Don MacLean, Rick Pizzo)
Same bat place: United Center, Chicago, IL
Hawkeye Radio Network
Live Stats (StatBroadcast)
Stat Pack
Jake Diebler (45-28 at Ohio State)
KenPom ($): +21.66; 26th (124.5; 19th | 102.8; 52nd)
BartTorvik: 23rd (125.2; 16th | 102.3; 51st)
Sports-Ref:
PPG: 80.5 (78th) | 73.0 (151th)
RPG: 33.7 | 31.3
Leaders (via Sports-Ref)
PPG: Bruce Thornton (20.1); John Mobley, Jr. (15.9)
RPG: Devin Royal (5.7; 1.7 off); Thornton (5.2; 0.8 off)
APG: Thornton (3.9); Mobley, Jr. (2.8)
FG% (min 10 MPG, 2 FGA/game): Ivan Njegovan (58.0%), Thornton (55.8%)
3P% (min 1 3PA/game): Taison Chatman (48.0%), Mobley, Jr. (42.4%)
Last 5 games:
3/7: W v Indiana: 91-78
3/4: W at Penn State: 94-62
3/1: W v Purdue: 82-74
2/25: L at Iowa: 74-57
2/22: L at Michigan State: 66-60
