Iowa Basketball Matchup First Look: Michigan State

The Iowa Hawkeyes went perfect again last week with convincing wins over Maryland and #16 Minnesota. The Hawkeyes got some bounce in some of the advanced metrics this week based on those performances, but remain in second place in the Big Ten, a game behind still unbeaten #7 Michigan, who took down #9 Wisconsin with ease on Tuesday night.

The next challenge facing Iowa is a home matchup with a struggling Michigan State team that has always given the Hawkeyes (and virtually everyone else) fits under Tom Izzo. The Spartans had seemed to find their footing with a win at Nebraska and a dominating win over Rutgers, but stumbled at home against Purdue to close out last week. MSU now firmly in the bottom third of the conference with a 2-4 record heading into their trip to Iowa City.

Here’s your first look at Iowa’s matchup with Michigan State.

Matchup: Michigan State Spartans (8-4, 2-4) at #5 Iowa Hawkeyes (11-2, 5-1)
When: Thursday, January 13th at 8:00 pm CT
Where: Carver-Hawkeye Arena - Iowa City, IA
TV: FS1
Video Streaming: FoxSportsGo.com
Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network (click to find your local station)
Audio Streaming: TuneIn Radio

Statistical Overview

Iowa

Points Per Game: 91.9
Points Allowed Per Game: 73.2
Rebounds Per Game: 41.6
Assists Per Game: 21.3
Blocks Per Game: 4.6
Steals Per Game: 6.8

Michigan State

Points Per Game: 76.0
Points Allowed Per Game: 71.3
Rebounds Per Game: 38.6
Assists Per Game: 19.2
Blocks Per Game: 5.1
Steals Per Game: 4.8

Statistical Leaders

Iowa

Scoring: Luka Garza 27.6 PPG
Rebounds: Luka Garza 8.6 RPG
Assists: Jordan Bohannon 4.9 APG

Michigan State

Scoring: Aaron Henry 13.9 PPG
Rebounds: Joey Hauser 8.1 RPG
Assists: Aaron Henry 3.7 APG

Advanced Stats

Adjusted Offense
IOWA 123.2 (2) MICHIGAN STATE 110.1 (52)
Adjusted Defense
IOWA 95.9 (72) MICHIGAN STATE 93.9 (49)
Adjusted Tempo
IOWA 71.4 (68) MICHIGAN STATE 70.8 (93)
Adjusted Efficiency Margin
IOWA +27.34 (3) MICHIGAN STATE +16.2 (43)

Projected Outcome

Final: Iowa 85, Michigan State 75
Total Possessions: 72
Win Likelihood Percentage: 83%

Note: Advanced stats are taken from KenPom.com. National rankings are provided following each metric. Adjusted offense and defense metrics measure the points scored per 100 possessions, adjusted for quality of opponent, location and when it was played (more recent gets more weighting). Adjusted tempo is defined as total possessions divided by minutes, adjusted for schedule considering the preferred pace of each team.