Iowa Basketball Matchup Second Look: Ohio State

The Iowa Hawkeyes had the wheels fall off in the second half on Thursday night against #3 Michigan. With the disappointing loss, Iowa is now eliminated from the Big Ten championship conversation, but there are still goals left to reach. Most importantly, the Hawkeyes are searching for the coveted double bye in the Big Ten Tournament. A key step in that search is a win in Columbus on Sunday.

The Hawkeyes will take on Ohio State in their second straight road game against a top-5 opponent. The stakes will be high as a loss puts Iowa in serious danger of falling to fifth in the conference (you can see the full breakdown of scenarios here, but with a loss Sunday Iowa would need Purdue to drop a game to stay in fourth) and out of the double bye. A win and the Hawkeyes are in the driver’s seat to stay out of the first two rounds of the Big Ten Tournament and could jump as high as second in the conference.

But the task is again tall as Ohio State remains a very good team. The Hawkeyes lost to the Buckeyes 89-85 when the two teams face off in Carver back in early February. Iowa led by as many as 11 in the second half of that one, despite being without starter CJ Fredrick. Now the two will face off again with Fredrick back but the Buckeyes now have questions around Kyle Young, who missed Thursday night’s matchup against Michigan State due to a concussion.

As we get ready for Sunday’s matchup, here’s your first look at how Iowa stacks up with Ohio State the second time around.

Matchup: #9 Iowa Hawkeyes (17-7, 11-6) at #4 Ohio State Buckeyes (18-6, 12-6)
When: Sunday, February 28th at 3:00 pm CT
Where: Value City Arena - Columbus, OH
TV: CBS
Video Streaming: CBSSports.com
Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network (click to find your local station)
Audio Streaming: TuneIn Radio

Statistical Overview

Iowa

Points Per Game: 85.2
Points Allowed Per Game: 73.0
Rebounds Per Game: 40.7
Assists Per Game: 18.9
Blocks Per Game: 4.3
Steals Per Game: 5.5

Ohio State

Points Per Game: 78.0
Points Allowed Per Game: 69.7
Rebounds Per Game: 36.2
Assists Per Game: 13.0
Blocks Per Game: 3.3
Steals Per Game: 4.7

Statistical Leaders

Iowa

Scoring: Luka Garza 24.3 PPG
Rebounds: Luka Garza 8.3 RPG
Assists: Jordan Bohannon 4.5 APG

Ohio State

Scoring: EJ Liddell 16.0 PPG
Rebounds: EJ Liddell 6.8 RPG
Assists: CJ Walker 4.3 APG

Advanced Stats

Adjusted Offense
IOWA 125.7 (2) OHIO STATE 124.3 (3)
Adjusted Defense
IOWA 97.1 (79) OHIO STATE 97.5 (84)
Adjusted Tempo
IOWA 69.6 (110) OHIO STATE 67.1 (242)
Adjusted Efficiency Margin
IOWA +28.58 (5) OHIO STATE +26.77 (7)

Projected Outcome

Final: Ohio State 82, Iowa 81
Total Possessions: 68
Win Likelihood Percentage: 46%

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.