Franimal Planet: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (1-4) at Iowa (5-2)

Date: December 1, 2012
Time: 12:05pm CT
Location: Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, IA
Television: none; online streaming via video.BTN.com/Hawkeye All-Access (I don't know if it will also be available on BTN2Go)
Line: ???

Iowa returns from a three-game sojourn away from Carver-Hawkeye Arena (a road trip where they went 1-2) to the friendly confines of Mediacom Court. They also return to the cupcake-heavy portion of their non-conference schedule. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is the creme-filled opponent tomorrow afternoon and they are not good. The Islanders are 1-4 on the season, with the lone win coming over Texas Lutheran, a Division III school. Since then, they've lost four in a row to Denver, Utah State, Houston, and Toledo, mostly by double digits. With a resume like that, it's hardly a surprise that they check in at 315th on the KenPom ratings.

They don't score a lot (64.4 ppg, 243rd in the nation), they don't shoot very well (45.6% eFG), and they let other teams shoot pretty well (53.2% eFG). Their best players are F William Nelson (15.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg) and G Johnathan Jordan (13.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 4.8 apg), but they don't have much in the way of depth.

KenPom predicts an 80-58 Iowa win and that sounds about right. The result of this game should not be in much doubt. This should be a game about regaining confidence. It should also be a game about refocusing on defense; after a pair of bad defensive performances (especially against Virginia Tech on Tuesday night), Iowa really needs to turn things around on that end of the floor. The Islanders look like a good opponent for Iowa to do just that.