What: Northern Illinois (0-4) at No. 3 Iowa (5-0) in men’s basketball
When/where: 1 p.m., Carver-Hawkeye Arena
TV: FS1 (Bob Brainerd, Jess Settles)
Livestream: Foxsports.com/live
Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network, including WMT-AM (600) and WHO-AM (1040)
Series: Iowa leads, 7-0
Last meeting: Iowa won, 98-75, on Dec. 29, 2017
Huskies data: It’s been a rough start for NIU, which finished last season tied for first place in the Mid-American Conference’s West Division. The Huskies lost their league opener last Wednesday, 79-70 in overtime to Ball State. That came after defeats to Illinois-Chicago, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (73-53) and Pittsburgh (89-59). … NIU had a 38-18 halftime lead in the Illinois-Chicago game before losing, 65-61. … Sophomore guard Tyler Cochran averaged 14 points over the first two games, but didn’t play in the next two because of contact tracing for COVID-19. … The Huskies have allowed 10.8 3-pointers per game while making just 4.3. … NIU won 84 games over the previous five seasons, the best five-year stretch in Huskies history.
Hawkeyes data: Iowa is fresh off a 105-77 victory over Iowa State Friday night. … These teams’ last meeting was three years ago. Then-freshman Luka Garza made all eight of his field-goal tries and scored 25 points, as many as he would score in a game until his junior season. … The Hawkeyes are the only major-conference team with three players shooting over 50 percent from 3-point range. Garza is 11-of-16 for 68.8 percent, and CJ Fredrick and Joe Wieskamp are 11-of-20 for 55 percent. ... Iowa leads all major-conference teams in scoring with 99.4 points per game. ... The Hawkeyes’ last loss to a Mid-American Conference team was against Toledo in the 1979 NCAA tournament.
Next game: Iowa plays No. 1 Gonzaga Saturday at 11 a.m., in Sioux Falls, S.D.