Men's Basketball Breakdown: Iowa vs. Penn State
Breaking down Saturday's men's basketball game between Iowa and Penn State.
Game facts
Time and place — 11 a.m. (CST), Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City
TV — BTN (Kevin Kugler, play-by-play; Stephen Bardo, analyst)
Radio — Hawkeye Radio Network
Records — Iowa 19-9 (10-7 Big Ten), Penn State 21-7 (11-6)
Rankings — Iowa is No. 17 in the USA Today coaches poll and No. 18 in the Associated Press poll. Penn State is No. 14 in the USA Today coaches poll and No. 16 in the Associated Press poll.
Series — Iowa leads 30-18.
Earlier this season — Penn State defeated Iowa, 89-86, on Jan. 4 at the Palestra in Philadelphia.
The lineups
Iowa — Joe Wieskamp (F, 6-6, Soph., 14.5 ppg.), Ryan Kriener (F, 6-10, Sr., 7.9 ppg.), Luka Garza (C, 6-11, Jr., 23.6 ppg.), Joe Toussaint (G, 6-0, Fr., 6.5 ppg.), Connor McCaffery (G, 6-5, Soph., 6.1 ppg.)
Penn State — John Harrar (F, 6-9, Jr., 3.9 ppg.), Lamar Stevens (F, 6-8, Sr., 17.6 ppg.), Mike Watkins (F, 6-9, Sr., 9.8 ppg.), Myles Dread (G, 6-4, Soph, 8.3 ppg.), Jamari Wheeler (G, 6-1, Jr., 4 ppg.)
The analytics
NET — Penn State 26, Iowa 29
KenPom — Penn State 21 (Adjusted offense, 38; adjusted defense, 15), Iowa 22 (Adjusted offense, 9; adjusted defense, 90)
Sagarin — Penn State 17, Iowa 24
What to watch
It's been a long time since these two have played. A lot has happened in the Big Ten since then, and a lot can still happen in the final three games.
The Hawkeyes are in sixth place, one game behind the four-team knot for second place that includes the Nittany Lions.
The two teams put on a show in the first matchup on what is considered a neutral court by the NCAA, but it really wasn't.
"You had two teams going up and down," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. "It was a fast-paced game. There were a lot of good individual plays, individual performances. There were a ton of lead changes. I think a lot of times people look at what they think as a good game is different teams taking the lead at various points in time.
"Both teams fought hard. Both teams fought back. It was a really competitive, physical, clean game I thought."
Expect the same thing on Saturday.
Iowa didn't have a healthy CJ Fredrick in that game — the redshirt freshman guard sat out the second half with what turned out to be a stress reaction in his left foot. He missed two games after that, and he's missed the last three games with a sprained right ankle.
McCaffery expects Fredrick to play, and probably start. That will make this an interesting game.
