Like Iowa Hawkeyes, Richmond is very good at stealing and protecting the basketball

Winning four games in four days to capture a conference basketball tournament is supposed to be uncommon, yet Iowa and its first-round NCAA men’s tourney foe both pulled it off.

The Hawkeyes (26-9) downed Purdue 75-66 Sunday in Indianapolis to go 4-for-4 and win the Big Ten tournament. Richmond (23-12) outscored Davidson 7-0 over the final 1:10 for a 64-62 Atlantic 10 championship win in Washington, D.C., going 4-for-4 itself and earning that league’s automatic bid in the NCAAs.

Midwest Region No. 5-seed Iowa is pitted against No. 12 Richmond on Thursday at 2:10 p.m. (CT) in a first-round game at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y.

HOW TO WATCH: Iowa vs. Richmond time, TV, livestream and radio info

Richmond was 10-8 and the sixth-place finisher in the 14-team A-10. Jacob Gilyard, a 5-foot-9 senior guard, played all 160 minutes in the tourney, averaged 19.8 points in the league tourney, including 26 in the title game.

Gilyard leads the nation in steals with 3.1 per game, and had a tournament-record 16 over the four games on his way to being named the event’s Most Outstanding Player.

“He controlled the whole tournament is the fact of the matter,” Richmond Coach Chris Mooney said.

“Jacob Gilyard is sensational,” said Davidson Cach Bob McKillop. “He is a guy who creates chaos defensively and (generates) runs on their offense consistently, as well. To be able to play 40 minutes and have that kind of stamina is an extraordinary statement on how gifted he is and how talented and valuable he is.”

Gilyard, from Kansas City, Mo., is sort of Richmond’s answer to Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon. Gilyard came back for a fifth season this season. Bohannon returned for a fifth full season and sixth overall.

Gilyard has played in 152 career games and has 328 3-pointers and 2,011 points. Bohannon has played in 178 games, has 453 3s, and 2,027 points. Gilyard has 773 assists, Bohannon 701.

Team-wise, the biggest similarity between the Spiders and Hawkeyes has to do with ball-thievery and ball-protection. Richmond averages 7.9 steals per game. Iowa had 13 in its win over Purdue Sunday, and averages a Big Ten-best 7.4.

Iowa is fourth in the nation in fewest turnovers per game with 9.2. The Spiders are eighth with 9.8. So it’s a disciplined opponent that a disciplined Iowa team gets out of the gate.

The Hawkeyes may enjoy seeing a lineup that is more comparable to theirs, height-wise, after dealing with Purdue’s 7-foot-4 Zach Edey and 6-10 Trevion Williams Sunday.

Tyler Burton, a 6-7 junior forward, leads Richmond with 16.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. The Spiders have has been out-rebounded by 3.2 per game.

Who would Iowa play after a Round 1 win?

So, what if Iowa defeats Richmond? It then would face the winner of Thursday’s Providence-South Dakota State game Saturday at a time to be determined.

No. 4-seed Providence is 25-5. It got rocked 85-58 by Creighton Friday in the Big East tournament semifinals. Consider that an aberration. The Friars won the Big East regular-season title, and won at Wisconsin in November.

No. 13-seed South Dakota State is 30-4 and on a 21-game winning streak, the longest in the nation.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com

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