Iowa vs. Penn State men’s basketball glance: Time, TV, livestream, game info (Feb. 8, 2024)

What: Iowa (13-9 overall, 5-6 Big Ten) at Penn State (11-11, 5-6), men’s basketball

When/where: Thursday at 6 p.m. (CT), Bryce Jordan Center, State College, Pa.

TV: BTN (Jason Horowitz, Shon Morris)

Livestream: FoxSports.com or Fox Sports app

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network affiliates, KRUI-FM

Series: Iowa leads, 33-20

Line: Iowa by `

Kenpom.com rankings: Iowa 52nd, Penn State 92nd

Iowa’s next game: Minnesota in Iowa City, Sunday at 2 p.m.

What to know: Iowa is seeking to return to the .500 mark in Big Ten play, against a Penn State team also trying to get to 6-6.

The Hawkeyes are coming off a 79-77 home win over Ohio State last Friday. They were led by the 20 points of senior guard Tony Perkins, who has hit that mark in each of Iowa’s last five games. While Luka Garza and Keegan Murray had the same accomplishment in recent years, no Iowa guard has done it since Fred Brown in 1971.

Perkins is one of six players nationally with 340+ points, 90+ assists, 90+ rebounds and 40+ steals, and the only one among them with fewer than 35 turnovers.

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Tony Perkins keeps getting better, to the great delight of the Hawkeyes

Penn State is playing its best ball of the season, with road wins against Rutgers (61-46) and Indiana (85-71) in its last two games. It also owns a home win against then-No. 11 Wisconsin. The Nittany Lions shot 57.4 percent from the floor against Indiana.

“I’ve just been impressed with everything that they do,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “Their players, their aggressiveness at both ends, their cohesion. They’ve got multiple shot-makers.

“They’re a connected group right now. No question about that.”

Mike Rhoades is Penn State’s first-year head coach after a six-year run at VCU in which it was 72-32 in the Atlantic 10 Conference with three NCAA tournament appearances.

Only one of last year’s Penn State players is among the team’s top eight players, sophomore Kanye Clary (19.4 ppg in Big Ten play). He missed the last two games with a face injury after taking an elbow to the face in a Jan. 28 game against Minnesota.

The other seven players are transfers, including Ace Baldwin (13.6 points, 5.2 assists per game). Baldwin followed Rhoades from VCU. He has a Big Ten-best 2.8 steals per game, and 15 more steals than any other Big Ten player.

Penn State has forced 15.7 turnovers per game to lead the Big Ten, and its +5 turnover margin ranks eighth in the nation. It has been out-rebounded by over five per game in league play.

In a strange pair of stats, the Lions are first in the Big Ten in 3-point defense (. 308) but last in overall field goal defense (. 458).

The home team has won the last six games in this series.