Penn State vs. Iowa men’s basketball glance: Time, TV, livestream, game info (Feb. 27, 2024)

What: Penn State (14-14 overall, 8-9 Big Ten) at Iowa (16-12, 8-9), men’s basketball

When/where: Tuesday at 8:07 p.m., Carver-Hawkeye Arena

TV: BTN (Kevin Kugler, Shon Morris)

Livestream: FoxSports.com or Fox Sports app

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network affiliates, KRUI-FM

Series: Iowa leads, 33-21

Morning line: Iowa by 8.5

NCAA NET rankings: Iowa 60th, Penn State 96th

Bart Torvik says: Iowa has a 14 percent chance of going to the NCAA tournament, Penn State has a 0.3 percent chance.

What to know: If the Hawkeyes are to have their fifth-straight winning season in Big Ten play, they must sweep their final three games. That starts with this game, then come opportunities to win Quad 1 games at Northwestern Saturday and at home against Illinois March 10.

Penn State is fresh off a great week. The Nittany Lions defeated then-No. 12 Illinois 90-89 last Wednesday and followed it up with an 83-74 win over Indiana. Both games were at Penn State.

The Nittany Lions defeated Iowa 89-79 in State College on Feb. 8 after trailing by seven points with 8:38 left. Senior guard Ace Baldwin, who followed head coach Mike Rhoades from VCU after last season, had 22 points and six assists.

Baldwin leads the Big Ten and is fourth nationally in steals with 2.82 per game. He is on pace to have the most per game by a Big Ten player since 1989.

Penn State has lost 15 of its last 16 games in Iowa City. Its only two-game season sweep of the Hawkeyes was in 2017.

Guard Kanye Clary is the Lions’ leading scorer at 16.7 points per game, but last week it was announced he is no longer with the team. “A coach’s decision,” Rhoades said. The team is 2-0 in Clary’s absence.

Iowa tries to bounce back from its 95-85 loss at Illinois last Saturday. The Hawkeyes have followed their last four defeats with victories.

Owen Freeman’s next blocked shot will give him Iowa’s freshman single-season record. Acie Earl had 50 blocks as a frosh in 1989-90.

Sophomore guard Josh Dix was especially good in the Illinois game. He often has deferred to his teammates on offense, but took 15 shots in Champaign and scored 20 points. He made two 3-pointers for the first time in his last nine games.

BTN’s Robbie Hummel called Dix “a midrange assassin.”

Iowa made just four 3-pointers in each of its last three games, two of them wins. The Hawkeyes haven’t shot better than 33.3 percent from deep in their last eight games.

In Big Ten games, Iowa is 13th in rebounding margin at minus-3.7 per game. Penn State, however, is 14th at minus-7.8.

The Hawkeyes have made 78.0 percent of their free throws. Michigan State’s 78.5 last season is the best Big Ten mark in the last six years.