Tip Time: Iowa at Northwestern
Iowa needs Jordan Bohannon to stay hot from the outside Wednesday against the Cats
Tom Kakert • HawkeyeReport.com
@hawkeyereport
IOWA (12-3, 1-3) at NORTHWESTERN (10-5, 1-3)
TIME: 8:00 p.m.
TV: BTN – Kevin Kugler and Jon Crispin on the call.
SERIES: Iowa holds a 116-60 edge in the all-time series against Northwestern. The Hawkeyes are 46-41 in games played in Evanston. The two teams have split the last four meetings with Iowa winning 77-70 last year in Iowa City. Iowa’s last win in Evanston was on January 25, 2014 when they defeated Northwestern, 76-50.
THE LINE: Northwestern is a 3 point favorite.
THE NUMBERS
OFFENSE: NORTHWESTERN– 71.9 PPG, 43.2% FG, 34.0% 3 PT FG, IOWA – 82.9 PPG, 47.1% FG, 36.1% 3 PT FG.
DEFENSE: NORTHWESTERN– 63.2 PPG, 42.6% FG, 27.6% 3 PT FG. IOWA – 72.9 PPG, 44.1% FG, 29.8% 3 PT FG.
THE LINEUPS
NORTHWESTERN
6-6 guard Ryan Taylor – 12.5 points, 1.8 rebounds per game
6-7 forward Vic Law – 17.6 points, 6.3 rebounds per game
6-7 forward Miller Koop – 5.1 points, 2.3 rebounds per game
6-7 forward A.J. Turner – 9.5 points, 3.3 assists per game
6-8 center Dererk Pardon – 13.9 points, 8.3 rebounds per game
IOWA
6-1 guard Jordan Bohannon – 11.3 points, 2.9 assists per game
6-5 guard Isaiah Moss – 9.1 points, 2.7 rebounds per game
6-6 guard Joe Wieskamp – 10.9 points, 4.7 rebounds per game
6-9 forward Tyler Cook – 17.3 points, 8.3 rebounds per game
6-9 center Ryan Kriener – 5.3 points, and 2.9 rebounds per game
PLAYER TO WATCH – Jordan Bohannon – The Iowa point guard is hitting his stride. After a slow start to the season, Bohannon has heated up from deep. In the last four games, he has hit 17-37 from three (46%). That’s more on par with this career numbers, which were just over 40%. Perhaps just as important, he seems to be getting his confidence and aggressiveness back. After making a running three pointer before halftime on Sunday, Bohannon played more like we have seen in the first two years, scoring 22 points in the second half. Iowa needs him to continue that level of play to win on the road.
KEY MATCHUP – Victor Law vs. Isaiah Moss – Hard to say how the head to head match-up’s will unfold, but my sense is the two Chicago area products will be going against each other in this game. Law is the veteran leader for the Wildcats and their leading scorer at 17.6 points per game. Moss has done a very nice job on both ends of the floor in the past few games. He’s coming off what many believe was the best overall game of his career with 12 points and 10 rebounds. You can bet that he wants to play a great game in his hometown. Expect this to be a fun match-up to watch on both ends of the floor.
STATS AND NOTES
Iowa center Luka Garza returned to action against Nebraska after missing three games. He scored 8 points and had 2 rebounds in 10 minutes of action.
Fran McCaffery has 163 wins as Iowa’s head coach and third on the win list for the Hawkeyes.
KenPom.com has Northwestern rated 51st in the country and Iowa at 43rd. The new NCAA selection committee tool, NET, which has replaced the RPI, has Iowa rated 35th in the country and Northwestern rated 56th. KenPom.com projects Northwestern to win on Sunday afternoon, 73-71.
The Hawkeyes return 90.5% of their minutes played last season, including their top nine scorers. That is the fourth most returning minutes in D1 basketball.
Jordan Bohannon and Tyler Cook were honorable mention All-Big Ten last season. Bohannon is one of three players from a major conference with more than 300 assists and 150 three pointers thru their sophomore season. He is the only player nationally in the past 25 years to have 150 assists and more than 80 three pointers in his freshman and sophomore season. In Saturday’s win over UNI, the junior point guard made his 200th career three point field goal. Bohannon is 13 points and 103 assists from becoming the 6th Hawkeye to score 1,000 points and dish out 500 assists.
Cook had 60 dunks last season and shot 56.6% from the floor and 6.8 rebounds per game. He led Iowa with 121 free throws attempted last season. The junior forward went over the 1,000 point mark in his career in last Saturday’s win over UNI. Cook is 9 rebounds away from becoming the 26th Iowa player to score 1,000 points and have 500 rebounds.
Senior forward Nicholas Baer is 19 rebounds from being the fifth player in program history to have 500 points, 500 rebounds, 100 blocks, and 100 steals. Baer is now 9th all-time at Iowa with 105 career blocked shots.
Iowa is first the country in free throws made per game (22.1) and second in free throws attempted per game (29.1).
Freshman wing Joe Wieskamp led the Hawkeyes in scoring in the first game of his college career and posted his first career double-double against Pitt in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge
Iowa will have three players redshirting this year. True freshman guard C.J. Fredrick and sophomore forward Jack Nunge has opted to redshirt in the 2018-19 season. After returning to action against Iowa State, junior forward Cordell Pemsl decided to have surgery to remove hardware from his knee and will now redshirt.
Iowa is 1-0 this season in games played on a Wednesday. Under Fran McCaffery, Iowa is 17-20 in games played on a Wednesday. Iowa is 4-2 this season in games played on the Big Ten Network. The Hawkeyes are 66-62 under Fran McCaffery in games on the Big Ten Network.
THE PICK
The Hawkeyes picked up a must win on Sunday.
Now they have another game that is basically a must win on Wednesday night when they travel to Evanston.
Iowa’s road stats that have been circulated since the crushing loss last Thursday at Purdue. Iowa has trailed by at least 17 points in every road game and they have lost ten of them. It’s hard to explain how stunning those numbers are for a team like Iowa, but that is the reality heading into the game.
Turnovers have also been an issue on the road this season for Iowa and the lack of turnovers by their opponents have been a compounding problem. Iowa is averaging 14 assists and 12.5 turnovers per game in their two conference road games. Ideally, if you are going to win on the road in league play, you want that down to ten or less. What jumps out at you in the two road games is their opponents are averaging 25 assists per game and turning it over just 7.5 times a contest. Now, it’s a two game road sample size, but that’s a big reason why Iowa lost by big margins in their first two road efforts in league play.
Having said all that, Iowa has a great opportunity on Wednesday evening against Northwestern. The Wildcats aren’t the team they were a few years ago when they made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time. On Sunday, the Wildcats barely beat a struggling Illinois team in Evanston and their best win this year is probably over Georgia Tech or DePaul.
Vic Law and graduate transfer Ryan Taylor and the type of players that have given Iowa trouble in the past. Both are veteran wing players who can get hot from the outside and make a real impact on the game.
Dererk Pardon is a crafty big man around the rim, but he’s a guy that Iowa could get into foul trouble, particularly if Luka Garza plays more minutes in this game. Garza played ten minutes on Sunday and we could see his workload double against a bigger Wildcat team.
Also, three of their top eight players are true freshmen, so you never really know how they are going to react as conference game really ramp up.
Obviously it’s fair to be wary of picking Iowa to win on the road given how things have gone last year and early on this season in conference play. But, Northwestern isn’t usually an intimidating environment, even with their renovated facilities.
I think Iowa might have found something on Sunday. They look like a much more confident bunch on the floor and I think this one will be tight with the Hawkeyes pulling out a late win. IOWA 75 NORTHWESTERN 70.
https://iowa.rivals.com/news/tip-time-iowa-at-northwestern
Iowa needs Jordan Bohannon to stay hot from the outside Wednesday against the Cats
Tom Kakert • HawkeyeReport.com
@hawkeyereport
IOWA (12-3, 1-3) at NORTHWESTERN (10-5, 1-3)
TIME: 8:00 p.m.
TV: BTN – Kevin Kugler and Jon Crispin on the call.
SERIES: Iowa holds a 116-60 edge in the all-time series against Northwestern. The Hawkeyes are 46-41 in games played in Evanston. The two teams have split the last four meetings with Iowa winning 77-70 last year in Iowa City. Iowa’s last win in Evanston was on January 25, 2014 when they defeated Northwestern, 76-50.
THE LINE: Northwestern is a 3 point favorite.
THE NUMBERS
OFFENSE: NORTHWESTERN– 71.9 PPG, 43.2% FG, 34.0% 3 PT FG, IOWA – 82.9 PPG, 47.1% FG, 36.1% 3 PT FG.
DEFENSE: NORTHWESTERN– 63.2 PPG, 42.6% FG, 27.6% 3 PT FG. IOWA – 72.9 PPG, 44.1% FG, 29.8% 3 PT FG.
THE LINEUPS
NORTHWESTERN
6-6 guard Ryan Taylor – 12.5 points, 1.8 rebounds per game
6-7 forward Vic Law – 17.6 points, 6.3 rebounds per game
6-7 forward Miller Koop – 5.1 points, 2.3 rebounds per game
6-7 forward A.J. Turner – 9.5 points, 3.3 assists per game
6-8 center Dererk Pardon – 13.9 points, 8.3 rebounds per game
IOWA
6-1 guard Jordan Bohannon – 11.3 points, 2.9 assists per game
6-5 guard Isaiah Moss – 9.1 points, 2.7 rebounds per game
6-6 guard Joe Wieskamp – 10.9 points, 4.7 rebounds per game
6-9 forward Tyler Cook – 17.3 points, 8.3 rebounds per game
6-9 center Ryan Kriener – 5.3 points, and 2.9 rebounds per game
PLAYER TO WATCH – Jordan Bohannon – The Iowa point guard is hitting his stride. After a slow start to the season, Bohannon has heated up from deep. In the last four games, he has hit 17-37 from three (46%). That’s more on par with this career numbers, which were just over 40%. Perhaps just as important, he seems to be getting his confidence and aggressiveness back. After making a running three pointer before halftime on Sunday, Bohannon played more like we have seen in the first two years, scoring 22 points in the second half. Iowa needs him to continue that level of play to win on the road.
KEY MATCHUP – Victor Law vs. Isaiah Moss – Hard to say how the head to head match-up’s will unfold, but my sense is the two Chicago area products will be going against each other in this game. Law is the veteran leader for the Wildcats and their leading scorer at 17.6 points per game. Moss has done a very nice job on both ends of the floor in the past few games. He’s coming off what many believe was the best overall game of his career with 12 points and 10 rebounds. You can bet that he wants to play a great game in his hometown. Expect this to be a fun match-up to watch on both ends of the floor.
STATS AND NOTES
Iowa center Luka Garza returned to action against Nebraska after missing three games. He scored 8 points and had 2 rebounds in 10 minutes of action.
Fran McCaffery has 163 wins as Iowa’s head coach and third on the win list for the Hawkeyes.
KenPom.com has Northwestern rated 51st in the country and Iowa at 43rd. The new NCAA selection committee tool, NET, which has replaced the RPI, has Iowa rated 35th in the country and Northwestern rated 56th. KenPom.com projects Northwestern to win on Sunday afternoon, 73-71.
The Hawkeyes return 90.5% of their minutes played last season, including their top nine scorers. That is the fourth most returning minutes in D1 basketball.
Jordan Bohannon and Tyler Cook were honorable mention All-Big Ten last season. Bohannon is one of three players from a major conference with more than 300 assists and 150 three pointers thru their sophomore season. He is the only player nationally in the past 25 years to have 150 assists and more than 80 three pointers in his freshman and sophomore season. In Saturday’s win over UNI, the junior point guard made his 200th career three point field goal. Bohannon is 13 points and 103 assists from becoming the 6th Hawkeye to score 1,000 points and dish out 500 assists.
Cook had 60 dunks last season and shot 56.6% from the floor and 6.8 rebounds per game. He led Iowa with 121 free throws attempted last season. The junior forward went over the 1,000 point mark in his career in last Saturday’s win over UNI. Cook is 9 rebounds away from becoming the 26th Iowa player to score 1,000 points and have 500 rebounds.
Senior forward Nicholas Baer is 19 rebounds from being the fifth player in program history to have 500 points, 500 rebounds, 100 blocks, and 100 steals. Baer is now 9th all-time at Iowa with 105 career blocked shots.
Iowa is first the country in free throws made per game (22.1) and second in free throws attempted per game (29.1).
Freshman wing Joe Wieskamp led the Hawkeyes in scoring in the first game of his college career and posted his first career double-double against Pitt in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge
Iowa will have three players redshirting this year. True freshman guard C.J. Fredrick and sophomore forward Jack Nunge has opted to redshirt in the 2018-19 season. After returning to action against Iowa State, junior forward Cordell Pemsl decided to have surgery to remove hardware from his knee and will now redshirt.
Iowa is 1-0 this season in games played on a Wednesday. Under Fran McCaffery, Iowa is 17-20 in games played on a Wednesday. Iowa is 4-2 this season in games played on the Big Ten Network. The Hawkeyes are 66-62 under Fran McCaffery in games on the Big Ten Network.
THE PICK
The Hawkeyes picked up a must win on Sunday.
Now they have another game that is basically a must win on Wednesday night when they travel to Evanston.
Iowa’s road stats that have been circulated since the crushing loss last Thursday at Purdue. Iowa has trailed by at least 17 points in every road game and they have lost ten of them. It’s hard to explain how stunning those numbers are for a team like Iowa, but that is the reality heading into the game.
Turnovers have also been an issue on the road this season for Iowa and the lack of turnovers by their opponents have been a compounding problem. Iowa is averaging 14 assists and 12.5 turnovers per game in their two conference road games. Ideally, if you are going to win on the road in league play, you want that down to ten or less. What jumps out at you in the two road games is their opponents are averaging 25 assists per game and turning it over just 7.5 times a contest. Now, it’s a two game road sample size, but that’s a big reason why Iowa lost by big margins in their first two road efforts in league play.
Having said all that, Iowa has a great opportunity on Wednesday evening against Northwestern. The Wildcats aren’t the team they were a few years ago when they made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time. On Sunday, the Wildcats barely beat a struggling Illinois team in Evanston and their best win this year is probably over Georgia Tech or DePaul.
Vic Law and graduate transfer Ryan Taylor and the type of players that have given Iowa trouble in the past. Both are veteran wing players who can get hot from the outside and make a real impact on the game.
Dererk Pardon is a crafty big man around the rim, but he’s a guy that Iowa could get into foul trouble, particularly if Luka Garza plays more minutes in this game. Garza played ten minutes on Sunday and we could see his workload double against a bigger Wildcat team.
Also, three of their top eight players are true freshmen, so you never really know how they are going to react as conference game really ramp up.
Obviously it’s fair to be wary of picking Iowa to win on the road given how things have gone last year and early on this season in conference play. But, Northwestern isn’t usually an intimidating environment, even with their renovated facilities.
I think Iowa might have found something on Sunday. They look like a much more confident bunch on the floor and I think this one will be tight with the Hawkeyes pulling out a late win. IOWA 75 NORTHWESTERN 70.
https://iowa.rivals.com/news/tip-time-iowa-at-northwestern
