Daily News Podcast
Daily Newsletters
116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
With 2nd place in sight, Hawkeye men try to extend win streak to 5
Iowa faces an Ohio State team that has lost five straight, but still ranks above Hawkeyes in NET
Jan. 21, 2023 11:44 am, Updated: Jan. 21, 2023 12:12 pm
Iowa’s Payton Sandfort goes to the basket during the Hawkeyes’ 81-67 win over Maryland on Jan .15 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
The men’s basketball teams of Iowa and Ohio State are going in opposite directions. Which means little leading into their game against each other Saturday (1 p.m., CT) in Columbus.
The Hawkeyes (4-3 Big Ten) have won four straight games, the Buckeyes (2-5) have lost five in a row. Yet, the slate is clean as Iowa tries to keep its good thing going at Value City Arena.
“They lost five games by a total of 19 points,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said about the Buckeyes.
“They have a lot of different weapons. Zed (Key) was hurt for a minute there and was on a little minutes restriction, but he's back. He's one of the better big guys in our league. (Brice) Sensabaugh is probably one of the best freshmen in the country. They get really good play out of the point guard position.”
Is that overselling a team with five straight defeats? Not necessarily. Entering Friday’s games, Ohio State was 30th in the NCAA’s NET rankings, Iowa 35th.
Illinois had a four-game win streak and got thumped at home by Indiana Thursday, 80-65. That Hoosiers team had dropped three straight, then clipped Wisconsin and the Illini within the last week.
"Yeah, we could be undefeated (in the Big Ten) or we could have five losses,“ McCaffery said. ”Overtime win, overtime loss, they could go either way. Every team is in the same boat. A lot of these games are going to come down to two or three possessions because everybody is good.“
The Hawkeyes had an unexpected gap between games when their scheduled Wednesday home contest against Northwestern was postponed to Jan. 31 because of COVID-19 issues within the Wildcats’ program.
A win over the Buckeyes would lift Iowa into a tie for second place after it had been 0-3 and nestled at the bottom of the league standings at the start of this month.
Iowa shot 37 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from 3-point distance in those three league losses. During its current four-game win streak, those numbers are 49 and 41.1.
Make shots, win prizes.
Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com
