Iowa-Maryland breakdown

RECORDS

Iowa 16-3, 7-0 Big Ten; Maryland 17-3, 6-2 Big Ten

TV

6:06 p.m. ESPN (Adam Amin, Dan Dakich, Kaylee Hartung)

LOCATION

Xfinity Center, College Park, Md. (17,950)

LINE

Maryland by 1

SERIES

Series tied 2-2; Iowa won 71-55 last year in Iowa City; teams' only scheduled meeting this year

PROFILE

Iowa is ranked 3rd by AP and 4th by USA Today/Coaches; Maryland is ranked 8th by AP and 7th by USA Today/Coaches

KEY MATCHUP

Maryland guard Melo Trimble vs. Iowa's backcourt. Perhaps no point guard nationally is better than Trimble, who already has 112 assists. He's a difficult player to defend because of his quickness, acceleration and scoring ability. Coupled with an array of talented teammates, Trimble can be deadly for any defense.

'They've got a lot of other weapons, too,' Iowa guard Peter Jok said. 'They've got Rasheed Suliamon, they've got (Jake) Layman and they've got two really good bigs in there. We're going to focus on Trimble, but we've got to focus on everybody else there. They can all score. We've just got to do what we do best.'

'We'll rotate on him,' Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'That's a tough cover for 40 minutes for anybody.'

But Iowa's point guard Mike Gesell is underrated. He's an average scorer at 8.8 points a game, but he averages 6.9 assists a game to rank second in the Big Ten. His assist-to-turnover ratio is more than 3:1, and he brings a veteran presence to the floor.

KEY STATISTICS

SCORING/OPP: Iowa 81.7/67.9; MARY 77.4/64.1

FG%/OPP FG%: Iowa 47.0/40.9; MARY 50.3/40.4

3PT%/OPP 3PT%: Iowa 41.0/30.2; MARY 37.4/31.2

FT%: Iowa 73.0: MARY 76.3

LIKELY STARTERS

Iowa: G Mike Gesell (6-2; 8.8 ppg, 6.9 apg; 3.6 rpg); G Anthony Clemmons (6-2; 8.8 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 3.9 apg); G Peter Jok (6-6; 14.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg); F Jarrod Uthoff (6-9; 18.9 ppg, 6.2 rpg; 3.0 bpg); C Adam Woodbury (7-1; 8.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg)

Maryland: G Melo Trimble (6-3; 14.5 pgg, 5.6 apg, 2.7 rpg); G Rasheed Suliamon (6-4; 10.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.7 apg); F Robert Carter (6-9; 13.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.6 bpg); F Jake Layman (6-9; 10.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg); C Damonte Dodd (6-11; 3.7 ppg, 2.6 rpg)

KEY RESERVES

Iowa: F Dominique Uhl (6-9; 7.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg); G Brady Ellingson (6-4; 3.8 ppg, 0.8 rpg); F Nicholas Baer (6-7; 5.2 ppg, 3.1 rpg); F Ahmad Wagner (6-5, 2.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg)

Maryland: F Diamond Stone (6-11; 13.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.1 bpg); C Michal Cekovsky (7-1; 2.5 ppg, 2.1 rpg); G/F Jared Nickens (6-7; 5.7 ppg, 2.3 rpg); G Jaylen Brantley (5-11; 2.5 ppg, 1.3 rpg)

WORTH WATCHING

Iowa forward Jarrod Uthoff vs. Maryland forward Robert Carter. Uthoff leads the Big Ten in scoring (18.9 ppg) and blocked shots (57). He's second in 3-point percentage (48.3), third in free-throw percentage (84.1 percent) and 11th in rebounding (6.2).

Carter, a transfer from Georgia Tech, puts up 13.2 points a game (20th Big Ten) and grabs 6.9 rebounds (seventh) a night. He ranks seventh in Big Ten field-goal percentage (57.0). He's a dangerous inside-outside player, similar to Uthoff.

'You're talking about a guy who is an NBA player,' Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'He'll play in the NBA. He's that good. You put him and Sulaimon out there with Stone and Jake Layman — every one of those guys expects to play in the league and probably will.

'He's a little unique in that he's got a really good perimeter skill set for being as big as he is. So he can play down low if he wanted to. He can play on the perimeter. He can make a 3. He can pick-and-pop or pick-and-roll. He's versatile that way. It just gives (Maryland Coach Mark Turgeon) another weapon, especially if you're rotating defensively for any reason."

BOTTOM LINE/PREDICTION

Something has to give in a battle of streaks. Iowa has won 13 consecutive Big Ten regular-season games dating to last season. Maryland, which is in its second Big Ten season, has won all 13 league games at the Xfinity Center.

Iowa now sits alone in first place in the Big Ten at 7-0, a game ahead of Indiana in the loss column and two ahead of Maryland and Michigan. The Terrapins, who lost at Michigan State last Saturday, only get one crack at Iowa. An Iowa victory gives it complete control of the Big Ten and a three-game lead over the Terrapins.

Iowa has won its last six Big Ten road games, including over ranked foes Michigan State and Purdue this year. The Hawkeyes are a confident bunch right now and are unlikely to be swayed negatively in any environment. Maryland's arena ranks among the best, and Iowa never has played there before. Winning on the road never is easy, but Iowa is doing it with toughness at both ends of the floor.

'It takes the intelligence not to turn the ball over, to understand what's a good shot, to understand when you're going to quick shoot the ball, get everybody involved,' McCaffery said. 'You're going to have to make adjustments, typically. You saw that at Purdue.

'You have to make adjustments throughout the course of the game. It's one thing for a coach to make an adjustment, it's another thing for the players to execute that the way they did. And they were able to do it. I think in a lot of ways because they've been there before. We were down there (Purdue) a couple years ago in a dogfight and we lost in overtime. All right. So you learn from that. Those guys live through that. What do we do differently now? We were much better this time around.'

Maryland has the league's best array of talent and appears desperate. If Iowa wins this one, it's the best team in the country.

Maryland 77, Iowa 75

l Comments: (319) 339-3169; scott.dochterman@thegazette.com