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With only three weeks left in the college basketball regular season, the Iowa Hawkeyes find themselves in a solid position to make the NCAA Tournament with a 16-7 overall record, but lack a signature win. A little over a week ago, the Hawkeyes were supposed to have that in a road trip to then #16 Ohio State. But Mother Nature didn’t cooperate and the game was postponed due to travel issues.
As fate would have it, head coach Fran McCaffery would test positive for COVID-19 the next day and the Hawkeyes would go through the weekend without senior Connor McCaffery.
Now, both McCafferys are back and the Hawkeyes have another shot at a signature win as their trip to Columbus has officially been rescheduled.
SCHEDULE ALERT
— Iowa Men’s Basketball (@IowaHoops) February 12, 2022
The Big Ten has announced the rescheduling of the Iowa at Ohio State game to Saturday, Feb. 19. The contest will tipoff at 1:30 p.m. (CT) at Value City Arena and will be televised nationally on FOX. pic.twitter.com/iHdthkTZHg
With the trip to Ohio State now scheduled for Saturday, February 19th, the Hawkeyes will play three games in five days. Two of those will be against top-20 teams as three days after the trip to Columbus, Iowa plays host to Michigan State. But things could be worse. In that three game stretch, only one (OSU) is on the road.
While it could be worse for Iowa, the Hawkeyes certainly came out with the worse end of the stick in this scheduling update. The Buckeyes will come into the matchup with four days rest, and after having their game against Indiana (originally scheduled for the 19th) pushed back to the 21st, they’ll only be playing three games in six days - all at home and all against unranked opponents.
The move also works well for Indiana. The Hoosiers will now have four days to recover from a showdown with #14 Wisconsin vs. two days previously. After their matchup with OSU, they’ll still have three days rest before hosting Maryland on the 24th.
While the Iowa-Ohio State reschedule works well for all involved (albeit slightly better for everyone not named Iowa), the Buckeyes still have a tough stretch ahead. Ohio State also had a game against Nebraska postponed. That one has been rescheduled for March 1st, meaning the Buckeyes will close out the year playing four games in seven days, including a trip to Maryland and two home showdowns with the Michigan schools.
Iowa is back in action on Super Bowl Sunday for a 1pm tip against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. That matchup will be broadcast on FS1.