SO THAT WAS FUN

After your now beloved Iowa Hawkeyes (5-1) beat the Texas Tech Red Raiders, 72-61, they’ll face an even hotter San Diego State Aztecs squad (7-0) who beat the Creighton Blue Jays 83-52 in the finals of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational.

SDSU has been coached by Brian Dutcher the last two seasons, both 20-win results. This season, like each of the last two, has been more oriented around defense for the Aztecs, with BYU as their only opponent who has scored more than a point/possession so far. They do it by contesting shots/passes and locking down the boards, though they do allow a significant amount of free throws, which may be to Iowa’s advantage.

One Guy

• Malachi Flynn: The Washington State transfer has scored in double digits each of the Aztecs seven games and made 2 or more threes in all but one of their games. As their point guard, he’ll have the ball in his hands as much as anyone. C.J. Fredrick did a great job slowing a similarly talented Jahmi’us Ramsey last night but Flynn may have more tricks in his bag as a fourth year junior.

Also considered: Yanni Wetzel (will Iowa need to go big to guard their two talls starting lineup?); Matt Mitchell (the sixth man has been a flamethrower off the bench, making 8/17 threes on the season)

One Question

• Can Iowa sustain the same level of effort? If there was one thing different about Iowa’s performance than any other game this season, it was the sheer tenacity they played with from buzzer to buzzer. Despite facing a number of empty possessions on offense, the Hawks did all they could to keep Tech similarly stalled. Iowa also did a great job of matching every scoring burst from the Red Raiders with a clutch shot. Ultimately, they never let the game get away from them and forced a very good team to play out of sorts.

Others: Which team’s shooting carries over best? Can Luka Garza and Joe Wieskamp continue their 1-2 punch? How much blood will Garza lose tonight?

Broadcast Information

Opponent: San Diego State Aztecs (San Diego, CA // Mountain WEst Conference)

Game time: 7:00 PM CST // Friday, November 29, 2019

Location: Orleans Arena // Las Vegas, NV

TV: FS1

Online/Mobile: FOXSPORTSGO

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

Online Listening: HRN

Live Stats: StatBroadcast

Go Hawks, and play nice in the comments!