Iowa-Penn State breakdown

RECORDS

Iowa 21-10 (12-6 Big Ten); Penn State (17-15, 4-14)

TV

1:30 p.m. BTN (Kevin Kugler, Jim Jackson and Mike Hall)

LOCATION

United Center, Chicago

LINE

Iowa by 7

PREVIOUS MEETING

Iowa beat Penn State 81-77 in overtime on Feb. 28 and leads all-time series 27-13

TOURNAMENT PROFILE

Iowa is the No. 5 seed; Penn State is No. 13 seed. Winner faces No. 4 seed Purdue at 1:30 p.m. Friday

KEY MATCHUP

Iowa's backcourt vs. D.J. Newbill.

Iowa did a modest job on Newbill - the Big Ten's leading scorer - in the teams' only meeting this year. Newbill scored 19 points and had five rebounds and five assists, along with five turnovers. He's a dynamic and prolific scorer, which he proved with 26 points in a 68-65 win against Nebraska on Wednesday. As much as anything, it's about containing Newbill rather than stopping him.

Iowa mixes its defenses from man to zone, and sometimes even on the same possession. The Hawkeyes have done an admirable job in slowing down opposing guards during their current six-game winning streak, and it will take a team effort on Newbill.

KEY STATISTICS

SCORING/OPP:

Iowa 69.8/61.7; PSU 67.1/66.5

FG%/OPP FG%:

Iowa 43.2/39.2; PSU 42.3/40.4

3PT%/OPP 3PT%:

Iowa 33.6/32.2; PSU 33.0/33/0

FT%:

Iowa 74.3; PSU 69.2

LIKELY STARTERS

Iowa:

G Mike Gesell (6-2); G Peter Jok (6-6); F Jarrod Uthoff (6-9); F Aaron White (6-9); C Adam Woodbury (7-1)

Penn State:

G Shep Garner (6-1); G Geno Thorpe (6-3); G D.J. Newbill (6-4); F Brandon Taylor (6-6); C Jordan Dickerson (7-1)

KEY RESERVES

Iowa

: C Gabe Olaseni (6-10); G Anthony Clemmons (6-2); G Josh Oglesby (6-6); F Dominique Uhl (6-9)

Penn State:

F Ross Travis (6-6); F Donovan Jack (6-9); G Payton Banks (6-6); C Julian Moore (6-10)

BOTTOM LINE

The teams waged a back-and-forth struggle in State College, which Iowa ultimately won 81-77 in overtime. Penn State drilled its first four 3-point attempts and scored on nine consecutive possessions to take a 23-11 advantage before the Hawkeyes rallied to lead 31-29 at halftime. There were eight different lead changes and seven ties before Iowa held on late in overtime.

'Those guys got the job done at our home, so we've just got to come back and play our game for 40 minutes,” Penn State guard D.J. Newbill said. 'I think we played about 32 minutes of Penn State basketball. We've got to put together a 40-minute game.”

Penn State plays a physical brand of basketball so it will be interesting how the game is called on a neutral site. The Nittany Lions set a Big Ten Tournament record with 16 blocked shots on Wednesday.

Iowa has won four straight in this series and are 8-2 over their last 10 games. Six of those wins were by double digits and Iowa's average margin-of-victory is 17.3 points. The outlier was its four-point decision at Penn State. The teams did not meet in Iowa City this year.

Penn State struggled to defend Iowa's Aaron White, who scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. He also provided the game's most important play by stealing the inbounds pass with 30 seconds in overtime and Iowa holding a one-point lead. White sank six straight free throws to preserve the victory.

'You take Wisconsin out of this league, I think they're the hottest team in the Big Ten,” Penn State Coach Patrick Chambers said. 'I think (Iowa has) done a phenomenal job closing out teams. They never get rattled. We were in a close game. Aaron White makes a huge play. But I've seen that all year. Somebody makes a big play for them, so they find success. Think about last year, they were in a ton of games, but it went the other way for them, but now they've learned from those experiences, and now they're winning those games.”

PREDICTION:

Iowa 70, Penn State 62

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