Both teams appear about as even as you could expect, both rated, both with double digit wins, both with reliable post players with supporting cast and neutral court to boot. What will be the deciding factor come Saturday that determines the winner?
Saturdays game against Penn St., strengths, weaknesses, who you got...
- Thread starter IllQChawk
- Start date
I think a big factor is if we can keep Luka out of foul trouble and get someone to help him out down low. Watkins and Stevens will be a big test.
I predict it will be because of our defense, not our shooting if we win. They may be starting to turn the corner defensively. This team is smart. Don’t think they believe they can outshoot everybody every night.
Hoping we get to see some "White Magic" on Saturday
I can't see us getting the win out in Philly but that doesn't mean I don't think we are incapable of winning. Their post players are tough and they have some good guys to slash to the bucket. It will be great if they are cold shooting and we can stay in the 2-3.
It is going to be a challenge for sure. Defensively it is vital that we fill gaps and take away the paint. MUST limit PSU to one shot (gotta get help from guards on the glass). Limit live ball turnovers as PSU can make you pay with easy buckets.
Stay out of foul trouble! Not sure who is going to be able to body up Stevens? Kriener and Pemsl will be vital.
Gotta shoot the rock from deep (10 plus makes from 3) and make our FT's to get out with the Win.
Stay out of foul trouble! Not sure who is going to be able to body up Stevens? Kriener and Pemsl will be vital.
Gotta shoot the rock from deep (10 plus makes from 3) and make our FT's to get out with the Win.
Penn State owes us a win of some kind in this scholastic calendar year, so why not start here on Saturday.
Because f*** Penn State, that's why.....
Because f*** Penn State, that's why.....
Glad the game is in Philly and not State College. Both teams will have to adjust to playing in a unfamiliar arena.
Was it the penn st game last year that no fans showed up to and it was eerily quiet.
Oddly, PSU may get more of a home court advantage playing in Philly than they do in Happy Valley.
They most certainly will. I'm pretty sure this game has been sold out for over a week. Can't remember who tweeted it but I know I remember seeing it.
Pretty sure a Penn St fan posted that they played in that arena a couple of years. It will definitely more of home court advantage than the tomb/library that the Bryce Jordan Center is.
Classes don't start at Penn State until Jan. 13, so students are off campus until then. They put whatever signs of life there are that can be detected in the Bryce Jordan Center, so moving the game to where people are is definitely a plus for Penn State.
Game is sold out. Secondary market shows cheapest tickets at about $100 plus fees. Penn State seems to be promoting a whiteout.
Penn State has six kids from the Philly area - Lamar Stevens (Roman Catholic) and Mike Watkins (Math, Civics and Sciences, Phelps School), John Harrar (Strath Haven in adjacent Delaware County), Izaiah Brockington (Archbishop Ryan), Kyle McCloskey (Germantown Academy in adjacent Montgomery County) and Seth Lundy (Roman Catholic).
The Philadelphia Catholic League has held its championships there for years, so Stevens, Brockington and Lundy have played there many times. Watkins saw action in the win over Michigan State his freshman year (11 pts/9 rebs off the bench). Not sure if Harrar or McCloskey has ever played there.
Not a completely strange environment, but the big Penn State contributors probably have more minutes played in Big 10 away arenas at this point.
Someone mentioned on here, that Penn State has already practiced recently at the Palestra. Slight advantage? Place holds around 9000 or so, so it should be a full house come game time. My feeling is this game is a toss up, Iowa holds the advantage in 3 point shooting, and free throw percentage and in my opinion Iowa has played the tougher schedule, whether that holds true or not is anyone's guess. It's Garza, Wieskamp, Fredrick, against Stevens, Watkins, and Myreon Jones.
It could come down to our supporting cast, against their supporting cast. Penn State has had a luxury of starting the same 5 players through the first 13 games something Iowa has not been able to do.
Still think that stopping Garza is the key to Penn State winning this game, something that no one has been able to do when Garza is fresh. Can't wait until Saturday at 1. Going to be a good one!
It could come down to our supporting cast, against their supporting cast. Penn State has had a luxury of starting the same 5 players through the first 13 games something Iowa has not been able to do.
Still think that stopping Garza is the key to Penn State winning this game, something that no one has been able to do when Garza is fresh. Can't wait until Saturday at 1. Going to be a good one!
I am anxious to see if we have fixed our turnover problem. If not, this could be a long night.
All comes down to whether Iowa can make Penn State's 3-point shooting matter. Have to stop a stream of dunks/layups at the rim. 2 years ago Penn State ran a dunk line on Iowa out in Happy Valley. Different teams, different years, but that's my fear. Penn State is good in some areas where Iowa is weak. PSU is pretty good at forcing turnovers and Iowa without Bohannon might have some trouble there.
As usual, the officiating will make the difference. Iowa rarely plays a physical game and if the refs allow PSU to push, slap and grab, it could be a long afternoon.
Watkins concerns me. If he gets Garza into foul trouble, we are in trouble. Need to win the boards and limit turnovers. Take Hawks by 5 with lots of Hawk fans in the house.
Garza as big as he is and as awkward as he moves, only averages 1.9 fouls a game. Not saying he can't foul out or have his minutes curtailed by foul problems, but he's pretty nimble for his size.
As far as turnovers, if you remove the 24 turnovers from the Cincinnati game, Iowa is only averaging just under 11 turnovers a game. I'm hoping that the game in Chicago was just an aberration....
As far as turnovers, if you remove the 24 turnovers from the Cincinnati game, Iowa is only averaging just under 11 turnovers a game. I'm hoping that the game in Chicago was just an aberration....
Maryland had 20 TOs in their loss to Penn St; they're averaging just under 13 per game. As Ronman stated if the refs let Penn St be really physical Iowa will be in trouble.
Some really good comments. This will be a tough game, a tough hostile sold-out Palestra (9,000+) but it could be even more hostile in some of the other B1G/D-1 arenas we've already played in. At Michigan, in Hilton, and at the Carrier Dome which is the largest arena in NCAA DI basketball with a maximum capacity of 35,446. ...well OK, not so bad but it's a very nice road win. I believe there were at least 9,000 Cuse fans there.
It would be a very nice road win but I am not going to get bent if we don't win. PSU is talented. We need to defend Carver first and we have 9 B1G games left there below that we can win em all. We've already won 1 game at Carver Won't be easy but the games are winnable. OSU being the toughest imo...
Then if we can steal a few road wins which we can looking at the B1G road games left, we should be in good shape to get into the tourney...need to stay healthy. Fingers crossed.
Iowa (10-3, 1-1 Big Ten)
11/08/19 SIUE W 87-60
11/11/19 DEPAUL L 78-93
11/15/19 ORAL ROBERTS W 87-74
11/21/19 NORTH FLORIDA W 83-68
11/24/19 CAL POLY W 85-59
11/28/19 vs. Texas Tech W 72-61
11/29/19 vs. San Diego St. L 73-83
12/03/19 at Syracuse W 68-54
12/06/19 at Michigan L 91-103
12/09/19 MINNESOTA W 72-52
12/12/19 at Iowa St. W 84-68
12/21/19 vs. Cincinnati W 77-70
12/29/19 KENNESAW ST. W 93-51
01/04/20 at Penn State 2:00 PM
01/07/20 at Nebraska 9:00 PM
01/10/20 MARYLAND 7:00 PM
01/14/20 at Northwestern 8:00 PM
01/17/20 MICHIGAN 9:00 PM
01/22/20 RUTGERS 9:00 PM
01/27/20 WISCONSIN 8:30 PM
01/30/20 at Maryland 8:30 PM
02/02/20 ILLINOIS 1:00 PM
02/05/20 at Purdue 7:00 PM
02/08/20 NEBRASKA 6:00 PM
02/13/20 at Indiana 8:00 PM
02/16/20 at Minnesota 1:00 PM
02/20/20 OHIO STATE 7:00 PM
02/25/20 at Michigan State 7:00 PM
02/29/20 PENN STATE 12:00 PM
03/03/20 PURDUE 9:00 PM
03/08/20 at Illinois 6:00 PM
It would be a very nice road win but I am not going to get bent if we don't win. PSU is talented. We need to defend Carver first and we have 9 B1G games left there below that we can win em all. We've already won 1 game at Carver Won't be easy but the games are winnable. OSU being the toughest imo...
Then if we can steal a few road wins which we can looking at the B1G road games left, we should be in good shape to get into the tourney...need to stay healthy. Fingers crossed.
Iowa (10-3, 1-1 Big Ten)
11/08/19 SIUE W 87-60
11/11/19 DEPAUL L 78-93
11/15/19 ORAL ROBERTS W 87-74
11/21/19 NORTH FLORIDA W 83-68
11/24/19 CAL POLY W 85-59
11/28/19 vs. Texas Tech W 72-61
11/29/19 vs. San Diego St. L 73-83
12/03/19 at Syracuse W 68-54
12/06/19 at Michigan L 91-103
12/09/19 MINNESOTA W 72-52
12/12/19 at Iowa St. W 84-68
12/21/19 vs. Cincinnati W 77-70
12/29/19 KENNESAW ST. W 93-51
01/04/20 at Penn State 2:00 PM
01/07/20 at Nebraska 9:00 PM
01/10/20 MARYLAND 7:00 PM
01/14/20 at Northwestern 8:00 PM
01/17/20 MICHIGAN 9:00 PM
01/22/20 RUTGERS 9:00 PM
01/27/20 WISCONSIN 8:30 PM
01/30/20 at Maryland 8:30 PM
02/02/20 ILLINOIS 1:00 PM
02/05/20 at Purdue 7:00 PM
02/08/20 NEBRASKA 6:00 PM
02/13/20 at Indiana 8:00 PM
02/16/20 at Minnesota 1:00 PM
02/20/20 OHIO STATE 7:00 PM
02/25/20 at Michigan State 7:00 PM
02/29/20 PENN STATE 12:00 PM
03/03/20 PURDUE 9:00 PM
03/08/20 at Illinois 6:00 PM
Star comparison vs top 100 kenpom teams
Garza
FG% - 50.4
eFG% - 53.2
Stevens
FG% - 39.8
eFG% - 43.1
He has never shot 50% or higher vs Iowa.
They run an isolation offense as opposed to a lot of ball screens. Will test Iowa's 1v1 defense. Won't be many 2v1's created outside of talent mismatches forcing a double. Means they will take bad shots often not because their players are selfish but because they're coached to. That's how you go from double digit leads versus Ole Miss and Maryland to nailbiters. Lost to Ole Miss and Maryland could've won if not for a variety of errors. If PSU starts hot and Iowa can keep it to single digits, there is no reason to panic.
Iowa State was leading the nation in points off turnovers when we played them and we didn't let them get out and run. So even though our shooting was fairly average, we won comfortably. The cincinnati game raised alarm bells and Iowa is going to have to show improvement in the turnover department.
Garza
FG% - 50.4
eFG% - 53.2
Stevens
FG% - 39.8
eFG% - 43.1
He has never shot 50% or higher vs Iowa.
They run an isolation offense as opposed to a lot of ball screens. Will test Iowa's 1v1 defense. Won't be many 2v1's created outside of talent mismatches forcing a double. Means they will take bad shots often not because their players are selfish but because they're coached to. That's how you go from double digit leads versus Ole Miss and Maryland to nailbiters. Lost to Ole Miss and Maryland could've won if not for a variety of errors. If PSU starts hot and Iowa can keep it to single digits, there is no reason to panic.
Iowa State was leading the nation in points off turnovers when we played them and we didn't let them get out and run. So even though our shooting was fairly average, we won comfortably. The cincinnati game raised alarm bells and Iowa is going to have to show improvement in the turnover department.
I think I read on here that PSU has recently practiced at The Polestra so they will be somewhat familiar with the arena.
There’s been a lot of discussion about the matchup with Penn States big men Mike Watkins and Lemar Stevens. Stevens is a pre season all Big Ten pick and Watkins is a mountain of a man down low. I went back to last year’s game and looked at the matchup of the four big men in that matchup. I’ll let you guess which player had which stats?
Player A
Field goals. 9-17
3 point FG. 0-2
Rebounds. 12
Points. 22
Assists. 0
Minutes 30
Player B
Field goals. 6-8
3 point FG. 2-3
Rebounds. 3
Points. 15
Assists. 5
Minutes. 21
Player C
Field goals. 4-18
3point FG. 0-5
Rebounds. 8
Points. 8
Assists. 4
Minutes. 37
Player D
Field goals. 5-5
3 point FG. 0-0
Rebounds. 11
Points. 11
Assists. 2
Minutes. 26
Go ahead and make your guesses:
Player:
A?
B?
C?
D?
Player A
Field goals. 9-17
3 point FG. 0-2
Rebounds. 12
Points. 22
Assists. 0
Minutes 30
Player B
Field goals. 6-8
3 point FG. 2-3
Rebounds. 3
Points. 15
Assists. 5
Minutes. 21
Player C
Field goals. 4-18
3point FG. 0-5
Rebounds. 8
Points. 8
Assists. 4
Minutes. 37
Player D
Field goals. 5-5
3 point FG. 0-0
Rebounds. 11
Points. 11
Assists. 2
Minutes. 26
Go ahead and make your guesses:
Player:
A?
B?
C?
D?
Iowa won handily at Hilton. Not going to be intimidated by the Palestra or whatever Penn State fans show up. If Iowa loses, it'll be because of cold shooting (if that happens). If Iowa gets hot, it'll be over pretty quickly because they won't be able to double Garza and he will rule inside.
Watkins is a really good defender so I would be surprised if they try doubling Garza when Watkins is in the game.
Garza as big as he is and as awkward as he moves, only averages 1.9 fouls a game. Not saying he can't foul out or have his minutes curtailed by foul problems, but he's pretty nimble for his size.
As far as turnovers, if you remove the 24 turnovers from the Cincinnati game, Iowa is only averaging just under 11 turnovers a game. I'm hoping that the game in Chicago was just an aberration....
He's just a smart dude following the instructions he probably gets about fouling. He's never out of control with the ball. If he gets beat on defensive position either in the post or on the glass, he errs toward allowing the easy 2, knowing that if he's in the game he can get an easy 2 right back on the other end quite often so long as he stays in the game.
Generally yes, he dominated all night against the 12 win team and the freshman Garza. Last year in the only meeting, that game was without Tyler Cook and Watkins basically handed us the game in Happy Valley with critical missed free throws. I could see Riley eating some minutes and giving some fouls in this one if Watkins is frequently getting the best of it inside. The best way to beat him is to put him at the line.
And Teske was a great defender according to MI fans. How'd that turn out?
Honestly, Watkins is the superior defensive player of the two.
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