Men's Basketball Breakdown: Iowa vs. Ohio State

Breaking down Thursday's game between Iowa and Ohio State.

Game facts

Time and place — 6 p.m., Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City

TV — ESPN (Jason Benetti, play-by-play; Robbie Hummel, analyst)

Radio — Hawkeye Radio Network

Records — Iowa 18-8 (9-6 Big Ten), Ohio State 17-8 (7-7)

Rankings — Iowa is No. 20 in the Associated Press and USA Today coaches polls. Ohio State is No. 24 in the USA Today poll and No. 25 in the Associated Press poll.

Series — Ohio State leads, 81-80. Iowa has won three of the last four home games against the Buckeyes.

The lineups

Iowa — Joe Wieskamp (F, 6-6, Soph., 15.4 ppg.), Ryan Kriener (F, 6-10, Sr., 7.3 ppg.), Luka Garza (C, 6-11, Jr., 23.7 ppg.), Joe Toussaint (G, 6-0, Fr., 6.6 ppg.), Connor McCaffery (G, 6-5, Soph., 6 ppg.)

Ohio State — Kyle Young (F, 6-8, Jr., 7.7 ppg.), Andre Wesson (F, 6-6, Sr., 9 ppg.), Kaleb Wesson (F, 6-9, Jr., 14.1 ppg.), CJ Walker (G, 6-1, Jr., 7.6 ppg.), Luther Muhammad (G, 6-3, Soph., 6.4 ppg.)

The lines

Spread — Iowa -2 1/2

Over/under — 143 1/2

Moneyline — Iowa -145, Ohio State +125

The analytics

NET — Ohio State 17, Iowa 27

KenPom — Ohio State 9 (Adjusted offense 19, adjusted defense 14), Iowa 23 (Adjusted offense 6, adjusted defense 89)

Sagarin — Ohio State 14, Iowa 28

What to watch

Ryan Kriener understands the reality of the Big Ten.

The Iowa senior forward talked on Wednesday about the conference standings.

"You drop a game, you drop real far out of the standings," Kriener said.

He's right.

Iowa is in a four-way tie for third place in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes are a game behind Penn State for second place, but only a half-game ahead of seventh-place Rutgers and one game ahead of eighth-place Michigan.

The Hawkeyes' last five games of the regular season are against teams within 2 1/2 games of them in the standings, so every win is going to make a big difference when it comes to seeding in the Big Ten tournament.

The game against the Buckeyes is just the latest challenge.

Ohio State has the Big Ten's top-ranked defense, giving up just 61.4 points overall. The Buckeyes are a little worse in conference play, ranking seventh at 66.9 points per game.

"They are physical, they're connected, they're up on the ball, they're in the gaps, they fight the post, they run back," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said of the Buckeyes' defense. "But I think ultimately when you look at a team that plays defense statistically like they do, they compete, and I think that's the best thing you can say about them. Those guys compete."

The best competition may be between Iowa's Luka Garza and Ohio State's Kaleb Wesson. Wesson, a 6-foot-9 and 270 pounds, is the latest post player to challenge Garza, the Big Ten leader in scoring at 23.7 points per game.

"He's really skilled, he's long, he's obviously got a wide frame, but he's a little leaner now," McCaffery said. "I think he's really moving well, posts hard, picks and pops. But he's got a real good feel for how to play the game. When you're that big with that kind of a length and you can score in a variety of ways and move the way he does, those guys are difficult to handle."