The Iowa Hawkeyes (19-8, 9-7) are heading into the home stretch with their second to last home game against the Ohio State Buckeyes (17-10, 9-7). The Buckeyes are more bubbly than Iowa as bracketmatrix’s first team out despite similar resumes. There was also some buzz about Jake Diebler’s seat warming up. They are likely to be the more desperate team tonight.
They’re an incredibly inconsistent team and have alternated wins and losses since January 20th. OSU is coming off a loss at Michigan State so
hopefully that pattern breaks tonight. Bart Torvik, for what it’s worth, has them on a positive trajectory with their game scores & they rated 90+ in their last games.
Bruce Thornton, OSU’s point guard, is averaging 20.4 points and hitting 64% of his 2s. Please find someone to stop him.
The Hawks got them in their last matchup against each other, a win in the Big Ten Tournament.
Ohio State Buckeyes (17-10, 9-7) at Iowa Hawkeyes (19-8, 9-7)
Tonight, 2/25, at 8:00 PM, Big Ten Network (Cory Provus & Earl Watson)
Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, IA
Hawkeye Radio Network
Live Stats (StatBroadcast)
Stat Pack
Jake Diebler (42-28 at Ohio State)
KenPom ($): +20.02; 36th (123.0; 25th | 103.0 58th)
BartTorvik: 35th (123.6; 22nd | 103.1; 64th)
Sports-Ref:
PPG: 80.4 (86th) | 73.1 (157th)
RPG: 34.3 | 32.6
Leaders (via Sports-Ref)
PPG: Bruce Thornton (20.4); John Mobley, Jr. (15.1)
RPG: Devin Royal (5.6; 1.6 off); Thornton (4.5; 0.9 off)
APG: Thornton (3.9); Mobley, Jr. (2.8)
FG% (min 10 MPG, 2 FGA/game): Ivan Njegovan (56.5%), Thornton (54.6%)
3P% (min 1 3PA/game): Taison Chatman (48.6%), Puff Johnson (42.9%)
Last 5 games:
2/22: L at Michigan State: 66-60
2/17: W v Wisconsin: 86-69
2/14: L v Virginia (N): 70-66
2/11: W v Southern Cal: 89-82
2/8: L v Michigan: 82-61
If the Hawkeyes can win tonight, it eases the pressure on their last 3 games, which include 2 against top 10 opponents. If not, they’ll need to snag the win at Penn State and may need to find a way to get one against either Michigan or Nebraska.
Ultimately, with just 4 regular season games remaining, now is the time to start playing your best basketball ahead of tournament season.
