Heavy-favorite Hawkeye men mustn’t take last-place Gophers lightly Sunday

The outside world says the Iowa men’s basketball team has a “shouldn’t-lose” game Sunday afternoon.

The Hawkeyes face a Minnesota team in Minneapolis that is down. It’s a young, injury-plagued group club (7-15, 1-11 Big Ten) that has lost its last seven games. Its two most-recent defeats were by 35 points apiece. The latter, an 81-46 decision to Maryland, was the worst Minnesota conference home loss ever in Williams Arena.

The Gophers are last in the Big Ten in points per game, scoring margin, 3-point percentage, opponents’ 3-point percentage, free throw percentage and turnover margin.

Iowa (15-9, 7-6) needs to be a team without pity as it goes from playing the nation’s No. 1 team at Purdue three days earlier to the Big Ten’s No. 14 team.

A win would leave the Hawkeyes in the upper division of the conference. It would keep them viable for a finish among the top four teams, which would earn them a bye all the way to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament.

Iowa also must be a team without overconfidence, and should be. It is 0-4 against teams that currently have losing Big Ten records.

Dawson Garcia, a transfer from North Carolina who is the Gophers’ leading scorer and rebounder (14.9, 6.3) may return after a four-game absence with a bone bruise in his right foot.

“Clearly, Minnesota has struggled with injury,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said Saturday. “When Garcia plays they’re just better.”

Minnesota basically used a seven-player rotation with Garcia out. The Gophers haven’t played in eight days because of COVID-19 issues within the program.

Iowa appears to be at full-strength. In the Hawkeyes’ 87-73 loss at Purdue, junior forward Patrick McCaffery had his best all-around game of the four he has played since sitting out a half-dozen games to deal with anxiety.

In 20 minutes of playing time off the bench, McCaffery had a career-high five steals, matching Iowa’s season high. He blocked two shots, had two assists, and scored nine points. His team scored four more points than the Boilermakers when he was in the game.

“He didn’t look like himself in the previous two games,” Fran McCaffery said.

“It’s just great to see him out there flying around. I think when he does that, he’s better, we’re better. I think his legs are back. I’m not sure he had his game legs there for a week or so. We certainly need him, and he was great.”

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