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Before flying home from L.A., Hawkeye men will try to keep UCLA in tailspin
Coming off a 99-89 loss at USC, Hawkeyes try to salvage a split in Los Angeles when it plays the Bruins tonight
Jan. 17, 2025 10:53 am
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Wednesday night, the Iowa men’s basketball team attended the Miami Heat-Los Angeles Lakers, played within walking distance of its downtown Los Angeles hotel.
Good advice to the Hawkeyes would be to play like LeBron James and his Lakers team did in their 117-108 win. From Dan Woike’s Los Angeles Times story on the game:
“The Lakers swarmed on defense, diving for loose balls and forcing turnovers.”
Iowa didn’t write that kind of story Tuesday in its 99-89 loss at USC. It barely defended at all. The Trojans made an uncommonly great 64.9 percent of their field goal attempts and hit 10 of 15 three-pointers.
Now the Hawkeyes (3-3 Big Ten, 12-5 overall) get another chance for their first Big Ten road win of the season. They play UCLA (2-4, 11-6) tonight at 8:07 (CT), at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins have problems extending over more than their most-recent game.
With wins over old rivals Oregon, Arizona and Gonzaga, Mick Cronin’s Bruins had climbed to 15th in the AP poll. Then they started playing their new Big Ten brothers, and find themselves 0-4 in January.
“I would say the thing that is fairly characteristic of (Cronin’s) teams, they play hard, they play defense, they compete, put pressure on the ball,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said Thursday morning.
That’s UCLA’s forte, for sure. The Bruins have forced a whopping 17.1 turnovers per game, the most of any power conference team in the country. They lead the Big Ten in scoring defense, 63.4 points per game. They’re second in the league in steals.
It’s an offense, though, that has been so-so. UCLA has made just 22.3 percent of its 3-pointers during its current losing streak.
Staying downtown sine Sunday, the Hawkeyes have been insulated from being near the Los Angeles areas that have been plagued with wildfires over the last week.
The Lakers game, McCaffery said, is “the only thing we've really done, other than meetings and meals and practice.”
UCLA’s campus is adjacent to an evacuation warning zone. It has operated under emergency status this week, with its classes held remotely.,
Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com
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