Men's Basketball Breakdown: Iowa vs. Rutgers
Breaking down Wednesday's game between Iowa and Rutgers.
Game facts
Time and place — 8:07 p.m., Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City
TV — BTN
Radio — Hawkeye Radio Network
Records — Iowa 13-5 (4-3 Big Ten), Rutgers 14-4 (5-2)
Rankings — Iowa is No. 19 in the Associated Press and USA Today coaches polls. Rutgers is No. 24 in the AP poll and No. 25 in the USA Today coaches poll.
Series — Iowa leads 6-2
The analytics
NET — Rutgers 18, Iowa 27
KenPom — Iowa 15, Rutgers 24
Sagarin — Iowa 14, Rutgers 26
The lineups
Iowa — Joe Wieskamp (F, 6-6, Soph., 14.8 ppg.), Luka Garza (C, 6-11, Jr., 22.9 ppg.), Joe Toussaint (G, 6-0, Fr., 6.6 ppg.), CJ Fredrick (G, 6-3, Fr., 11.1 ppg.), Connor McCaffery (G, 6-5, Soph., 6.7 ppg.)
Rutgers — Akwasi Yeboah (F, 6-6, Sr., 8.9 ppg.), Myles Johnson (C, 6-11, Soph., 9.2 ppg.), Caleb McConnell (G, 6-7, Soph., 7.4 ppg.), Montez Mathis (G, 6-4, Soph., 6.9 ppg.), Ron Harper Jr. (G, 6-6, Soph., 11.8 ppg.)
What to watch
Rutgers ruined Iowa's Senior Day last season.
Garza remembers that.
Iowa coach Fran McCaffery knows that the Scarlet Knights present their own challenges this season.
Both are among the surprising teams in the balanced Big Ten this season. Iowa has survived injuries and has held serve so far at home this season. Rutgers, in the national rankings for the first time since 1979, is in third place, a game behind Michigan State, but is 1-3 on the road this season.
The Scarlet Knights are a physical team that will test Iowa — Rutgers allows just 58.7 points per game, best in the Big Ten and seventh nationally. The Hawkeyes have the best scoring offense in the Big Ten, averaging 79.9 points.
