Tom's article: https://iowa.n.rivals.com/news/hawkeye-tip-time-7
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Iowa Hawkeyes (12-3, 3-0) vs. Michigan State Spartans (16-1, 3-1)
Tip Time: 6 p.m.
TV: ESPN – Jason Benetti and Jim Calhoun
Location: Breslin Center, East Lansing, MI
History: Michigan State leads the overall series between the two schools 71-54. In games played in East Lansing, the Spartans lead the series 43-17. Iowa hasn’t won in East Lansing since 1993, when they defeated Michigan State 96-90 in overtime. The Hawkeyes have lost 18 straight games at Michigan State. Tom Izzo is 29-10 against Iowa in his career. Fran McCaffery is 2-9 against the Spartans.
THE LINE: Michigan State is a 7 point favorite
THE LINEUPS
IOWA
Adam Woodbury – 8.5 ppg
Jarrod Uthoff – 18.6 ppg
Peter Jok – 13.1 ppg
Anthony Clemmons – 7.7 ppg
Mike Gesell – 9.9 ppg
MICHIGAN STATE
Matt Costello – 8.8 ppg
Denzel Valentine – 17.8 ppg
Bryn Forbes – 14.4 ppg
Tum Tum Narin – 3.8 ppg
Gavin Schilling – 6.2 ppg
PLAYER TO WATCH
Denzel Valentine – In the early portion of the season, you could make a case that there was no one in college basketball playing better than Valentine. He was the true stat sheet stuffer, averaging nearly 18 points per game, pulling down nearly 8 boards per game, and dishing out 7 assists a contest. Then he missed a few weeks with knee surgery and that has set him back a bit. Valentine returned to action this past weekend and scored 10 points and had four rebounds and assists in 23 minutes against Penn State. He might be a little rusty, but Tom Izzo expects that he will start on Thursday night in front of the home fans and his return for his first home game since the injury will provide a significant boost.
KEY MATCH-UP
Anthony Clemmons vs. Bryn Forbes - The Hawkeyes won round one of the matchup between the two schools and in the matchup between two former high school teammates, Clemmons also was the victor. When Valentine was out, Forbes was averaging 23 points a game, but Clemmons clamped down on him and held Forbes to three points on 1-5 shooting. Basically, Clemmons took the Spartans leading scorer out of the game and that played a big role in the Hawkeyes win. Now we get round two of this friendly battle between friends. Valentine, who was also a high school teammate of the two, is back. That will make Iowa’s defensive challenge even more difficult. It will certainly open up the floor a bit more and Clemmons, who is coming back from a hip pointer that limited him to just 17 minutes against Nebraska, will have to have another outstanding performance on the defensive side of the floor.
STATS AND NOTES
Jarrrod Uthoff is one of 25 players named to the midseason Wooden Award Watch list. Mike Gesell was named Big Ten Player of the Week this past week. He had his first career double-double (22 points and 10 assists) in the win over Nebraska. Gesell is now averaging 6.9 assists per game. He has 456 career assists, which is 6th all-time at Iowa. Gesell and Jarrod Uthoff are closing in on 1,000 career points. Gesell has 954 points and Uthoff has 953 career points. Iowa has won nine straight Big Ten regular season games dating back to last year. That is the longest streak since the 1969-70 season. Iowa is 1-2 this season on Thursday night and 12-16 during the tenure of Fran McCaffery. This will be Iowa’s first game this season on ESPN. Iowa is 7-9 under McCaffery on ESPN. The Hawkeyes are 2-1 this season on the road with wins at Marquette and Purdue.
THE PICK
Every streak has to come to an end, right? This would be a good time for it to end from an Iowa perspective. Hard to believe that Iowa hasn’t won in East Lansing since 1993, but that’s the reality and some of those losses have been really ugly. But, the last two trips, to Michigan State, the Hawkeyes have actually held the lead at halftime. Now the task will be to finish one of these games off on the road against the Spartans.
This one certainly won’t be easy. It will be Michigan State’s first home game since Valentine returned to the lineup and the Spartan students are back on campus, so they will be involved. You can expect that when Valentine is announced as a starter, the Breslin Center will be loud. Then you throw in the fact that after Iowa beat Michigan State, Tom Izzo essentially called out his team’s toughness and you will have a fired up group of Spartans. Basically, Iowa is walking into a hornets nest if there ever was one.
But, this team also walked into Ames and Hilton and nearly pulled off an upset, so the environment won’t impact them a whole lot. How does Iowa pull off the win?
First, the Hawkeyes will have to get off to a good start. Michigan State isn’t going to fade like Purdue did earlier this month. Iowa can’t dig a hole and expect to get out of it. There are going to be storms that will need to be weathered when Michigan State makes a run and Iowa is going to have to find those run stopping makes and avoid quick shooting their way into a big deficit.
Uthoff is going to have to have a big game. He didn’t really score a lot in the first meeting, just 10 points. He’s probably going to have to go 20 plus in this one. Peter Jok is also going to have to score in bunches. He will likely draw the assignment of Valentine, so his defense is going to have to be very good, but he’s also going to have to make him work very hard on the defensive end. Valentine might not fully have his wind back, so make him work on both ends. Clemmons will have to lock up Forbes again and Iowa has to keep Eron Harris in check when he comes into the game off the bench.
This Iowa team seems to be operating at a different level mentally since blowing that big lead at Iowa State. This will be the ultimate test of their mental and physical toughness because the Spartans are going to be locked in for this one. Can Iowa pull off the upset? Yes, but this one just seems like it will be too high of a mountain to climb. MICHIGAN STATE 75 IOWA 69
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Iowa Hawkeyes (12-3, 3-0) vs. Michigan State Spartans (16-1, 3-1)
Tip Time: 6 p.m.
TV: ESPN – Jason Benetti and Jim Calhoun
Location: Breslin Center, East Lansing, MI
History: Michigan State leads the overall series between the two schools 71-54. In games played in East Lansing, the Spartans lead the series 43-17. Iowa hasn’t won in East Lansing since 1993, when they defeated Michigan State 96-90 in overtime. The Hawkeyes have lost 18 straight games at Michigan State. Tom Izzo is 29-10 against Iowa in his career. Fran McCaffery is 2-9 against the Spartans.
THE LINE: Michigan State is a 7 point favorite
THE LINEUPS
IOWA
Adam Woodbury – 8.5 ppg
Jarrod Uthoff – 18.6 ppg
Peter Jok – 13.1 ppg
Anthony Clemmons – 7.7 ppg
Mike Gesell – 9.9 ppg
MICHIGAN STATE
Matt Costello – 8.8 ppg
Denzel Valentine – 17.8 ppg
Bryn Forbes – 14.4 ppg
Tum Tum Narin – 3.8 ppg
Gavin Schilling – 6.2 ppg
PLAYER TO WATCH
Denzel Valentine – In the early portion of the season, you could make a case that there was no one in college basketball playing better than Valentine. He was the true stat sheet stuffer, averaging nearly 18 points per game, pulling down nearly 8 boards per game, and dishing out 7 assists a contest. Then he missed a few weeks with knee surgery and that has set him back a bit. Valentine returned to action this past weekend and scored 10 points and had four rebounds and assists in 23 minutes against Penn State. He might be a little rusty, but Tom Izzo expects that he will start on Thursday night in front of the home fans and his return for his first home game since the injury will provide a significant boost.
KEY MATCH-UP
Anthony Clemmons vs. Bryn Forbes - The Hawkeyes won round one of the matchup between the two schools and in the matchup between two former high school teammates, Clemmons also was the victor. When Valentine was out, Forbes was averaging 23 points a game, but Clemmons clamped down on him and held Forbes to three points on 1-5 shooting. Basically, Clemmons took the Spartans leading scorer out of the game and that played a big role in the Hawkeyes win. Now we get round two of this friendly battle between friends. Valentine, who was also a high school teammate of the two, is back. That will make Iowa’s defensive challenge even more difficult. It will certainly open up the floor a bit more and Clemmons, who is coming back from a hip pointer that limited him to just 17 minutes against Nebraska, will have to have another outstanding performance on the defensive side of the floor.
STATS AND NOTES
Jarrrod Uthoff is one of 25 players named to the midseason Wooden Award Watch list. Mike Gesell was named Big Ten Player of the Week this past week. He had his first career double-double (22 points and 10 assists) in the win over Nebraska. Gesell is now averaging 6.9 assists per game. He has 456 career assists, which is 6th all-time at Iowa. Gesell and Jarrod Uthoff are closing in on 1,000 career points. Gesell has 954 points and Uthoff has 953 career points. Iowa has won nine straight Big Ten regular season games dating back to last year. That is the longest streak since the 1969-70 season. Iowa is 1-2 this season on Thursday night and 12-16 during the tenure of Fran McCaffery. This will be Iowa’s first game this season on ESPN. Iowa is 7-9 under McCaffery on ESPN. The Hawkeyes are 2-1 this season on the road with wins at Marquette and Purdue.
THE PICK
Every streak has to come to an end, right? This would be a good time for it to end from an Iowa perspective. Hard to believe that Iowa hasn’t won in East Lansing since 1993, but that’s the reality and some of those losses have been really ugly. But, the last two trips, to Michigan State, the Hawkeyes have actually held the lead at halftime. Now the task will be to finish one of these games off on the road against the Spartans.
This one certainly won’t be easy. It will be Michigan State’s first home game since Valentine returned to the lineup and the Spartan students are back on campus, so they will be involved. You can expect that when Valentine is announced as a starter, the Breslin Center will be loud. Then you throw in the fact that after Iowa beat Michigan State, Tom Izzo essentially called out his team’s toughness and you will have a fired up group of Spartans. Basically, Iowa is walking into a hornets nest if there ever was one.
But, this team also walked into Ames and Hilton and nearly pulled off an upset, so the environment won’t impact them a whole lot. How does Iowa pull off the win?
First, the Hawkeyes will have to get off to a good start. Michigan State isn’t going to fade like Purdue did earlier this month. Iowa can’t dig a hole and expect to get out of it. There are going to be storms that will need to be weathered when Michigan State makes a run and Iowa is going to have to find those run stopping makes and avoid quick shooting their way into a big deficit.
Uthoff is going to have to have a big game. He didn’t really score a lot in the first meeting, just 10 points. He’s probably going to have to go 20 plus in this one. Peter Jok is also going to have to score in bunches. He will likely draw the assignment of Valentine, so his defense is going to have to be very good, but he’s also going to have to make him work very hard on the defensive end. Valentine might not fully have his wind back, so make him work on both ends. Clemmons will have to lock up Forbes again and Iowa has to keep Eron Harris in check when he comes into the game off the bench.
This Iowa team seems to be operating at a different level mentally since blowing that big lead at Iowa State. This will be the ultimate test of their mental and physical toughness because the Spartans are going to be locked in for this one. Can Iowa pull off the upset? Yes, but this one just seems like it will be too high of a mountain to climb. MICHIGAN STATE 75 IOWA 69
