Men's Basketball Breakdown: Iowa vs. Maryland
Breaking down Friday's game between Iowa and Maryland.
Game facts
Time and place — 6:01 p.m., Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City
TV — FS1 (Jeff Levering, play-by-play; Stephen Bardo, analyst)
Radio — Hawkeye Radio Network
Records — Iowa 10-5 (1-3 Big Ten), Maryland 13-2 (3-1)
Rankings — Maryland is No. 12 in the Associated Press poll and No. 14 in the USA Today coaches poll.
Series — Maryland leads, 6-3.
The lineups
Iowa — Joe Wieskamp (F, 6-6, Soph., 14 ppg.), Ryan Kriener (F, 6-10, Sr., 7.3 ppg.), Luka Garza (C, 6-11,Jr., 22.1 ppg.), Joe Toussaint (G, 6-0, Fr., 7.5 ppg.), Connor McCaffery (G, 6-5, Soph., 7.3 ppg.)
Maryland — Donta Scott (F, 6-7, Fr., 5.3 ppg.), Jalen Smith (F, 6-10, Soph., 13.3 ppg.), Anthony Cowan (G, 6-0, Sr., 16.7 ppg.), Darryl Morsell (G, 6-5, Jr., 8.7 ppg.), Aaron Wiggins (G, 6-6, Soph., 10.9 ppg.)
The analytics
NET — Maryland 12, Iowa 47
KenPom — Maryland 7 (Adjusted offense, 25; adjusted defense, 7), Iowa 22 (Adjusted offense, 5; adjusted defense, 101)
Sagarin — Maryland 5, Iowa 30
What to watch
Hey, look, it's a home game.
This will be Iowa's first game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena since Dec. 29, but only the second since Dec. 9.
The Hawkeyes traveled more than 8,500 miles and played in three different time zones in a 10-game stretch with eight games away from home.
"My travel bag just kind of sits in the corner of my room, ready to go over and over again," Kriener said. "It’s definitely good to get a little extra rest."
Four of Iowa's next five games are at home. And the Hawkeyes could use the rest.
Down to eight scholarship players, Iowa has plenty of roster challenges for the foreseeable future.
The Terrapins have always given the Hawkeyes trouble. They'll play a smaller lineup, and with Iowa a little thin in the guard court, it could be a problem, especially with Kriener now in the starting lineup.
"We match up with it, obviously with the lineup that we had," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. "With Kriener now in the lineup, that's different. It's one of those things you look and say, well, can we take advantage of it. But then if they're playing four smalls and we've got two bigs, then you look at the other side, are they taking advantage of it? So you're dealing with it at both ends."
At 1-3 in the conference, the Hawkeyes can't afford to continue falling. The current stretch of home games could make a difference in the rest of the season.
