Fun Facts: Iowa State-Iowa

Do we even need a preamble for Iowa State-Iowa basketball? It's fun.

This isn't football, where the ISU-Iowa game of September offers little but reminders of unhappiness for both teams. Iowa lost 20-17 to a team that went 0-9 in the Big 12 and allowed 30 points to all of its other 11 opponents. The Hawkeyes gained just 275 yards against the team ranked last in the nation in total defense at 528.9 yards allowed per game.

What that means is the Hawkeyes, at home, gained half the yards Iowa State's other 11 foes averaged against the Cyclones.

And if ISU people get too yappy about beating Iowa, they play right into the Hawkeye fans' old taunt that the Iowa game is the Cyclones' Super Bowl.

Basketball, however, is fun. Iowa State is ranked for the 23rd-straight week of rankings. Iowa almost surely will be ranked next week if it beats the Cyclones Friday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Last year's Iowa-ISU game was an 85-82 Cylones win in Ames that was one of the better games between the two.

So ... Fun Facts for a fun game.

1. Iowa won 17 of the first 18 games in the series, between 1909 and 1920. The teams met twice a season between 1913 and 1921. The highest-scoring game in those first 18 games was the opener, a 30-27 Iowa win.

2. In last year's game, Aaron White of Iowa established what still is his career-high with 17 rebounds, and Dustin Hogue of Iowa State tied what still is his career-high with 16 rebounds.

3. Hogue is averaging 3.4 rebounds through seven games this season.

4. Iowa will almost certainly use four players from Iowa Friday (Peter Jok, Josh Oglesby, Jarrod Uthoff, Adam Woodbury). Iowa State will almost certainly use none.

5. Through Wednesday, Iowa State was 20th in the nation in free throw shooting (75.5 percent) and Iowa was 28th (75.0).

6. The Cyclones' Georges Niang is shooting 92.1 percent (35-of-38) from the line. Iowa's White is at 87.7 percent (64-of-73). Iowa's Jok (11-of-11) and Oglesby (7-of-7) are at 100 percent.

7. Iowa and Iowa State have both made more free throws than their opponents have attempted. With Iowa, its 162 made to 156 opposition attempts. With ISU, it's 123-85.

8. Iowa State led the nation in assists per game last season, at 18.4. The Cyclones are ninth this season, at 18.6. They were second in the nation last season in assists-to-turnover ratio, at 1.74. They are fourth this season, at 1.73.

9. Iowa has blocked 58 shots over 10 games. Iowa State has only had 11 of its shots blocked over seven games.

10. Cyclone guard Monte Morris set an NCAA record last year in assists-to-turnovers ratio with 4.79. This season, he has 41 assists and six tournovers for a ratio of 6.83.

11. Iowa State led five times for a total of just 2:47 out of the 40 minutes in last year's Iowa-ISU game. It led for the last 20 seconds, though, and those were the ones that counted most.

12. There is one undefeated Division I team in Iowa, and that is ... Northern Iowa. The Panthers are one of 10 remaining D-I unbeatens. The others are Arizona, Colorado State, Duke, Kentucky, Louisville, TCU, Villanova, Virginia and Washington.

13. Iowa has won its last 31 nonconference home games. For current such streaks, that one ranks sixth in the nation. Iowa State's 25 ranks ninth. The longest such current streak is Duke's 113.

14. Iowa has held its last four opponents under 50 points. Iowa State averages 83.6.

15. Fred Hoiberg was 3-1 against Iowa as a Cyclone player, and is 3-1 against the Hawkeyes as Iowa State's coach.

16. This is one of only four Division I basketball games on Friday. The others are Charleston Southern-North Carolina State, Texas Southern-Florida, and New Jersey Institute of Technology-Holy Cross.

17. Lynnville, Iowa is 76 miles from Iowa City, 78 miles from Ames. The North Skunk River was pretty high in Lynnville five months ago.