Game Day Essentials: Game #31 at Iowa

Iowa Info

Head Coach: Fran McCaffery
Location: Iowa City, IA
Conference: B1G
Nickname: Hawks

Coach's Nickname: White Magic

Mascot: Herky the Hawk

Line: Iowa by 11.5
Typical Rotation Depth: 8+

KenPom rank: 32

A couple of Famous Alumni: Acie Earl, B.J. Armstrong

Other:  

• Blaise Keita and Wilhelm Breidenbach are questionable to play
• In their last meeting Nebraska throttled the Hawkeyes, holding them to 50 points in Lincoln. Juwan Gary led the Huskers with 14 in their 65-50 win.
• Nebraska has never swept the Hawkeyes since joining the conference
• Both coaches have sons on their teams as Fran McCaffery has sons Connor and Patrick on his team

KenPom Analysis: Iowa plans to outscore you

Player to watch: Kris Murray

Finally expected back from a foot injury after missing the entire month of December, Keagan Murray's twin brother has been a scoring force for Iowa when on the court, averaging 19.4 ppg. The career 37% 3pt shooter is important to space the court for an Iowa team that doesn't have a ton of consistent outside shooting.

Player to watch: C Filip Rebraca

The former North Dakota transfer is in his second year at Iowa and plays most of the minutes at center. It's going to be a chess match between Rebraca and Derrick Walker about who can defend the other without fouling whether either can stop the other from scoring. Like Walker, Rebraca is a good passer and an efficient scorer.

KenPom most used lineup

Others to watch

• Patrick McCaffery is Iowa's second leading scorer and gets to the FT line.
• Payton Sandfort is a 3pt specialist who broke out of an early slump to find himself shooting over 40% from 3 in conference 
• Tony Perkins is the Iowa version of Bandoumel 
• Ahron Ulis and Dasonte Bowen split at PG. Neither shoots much. Bowen probably has the larger upside but he's a true freshman
• Connor McCaffery is a glue guy at this point in his career though he'll knock down shots if open.
• 6'5" freshman Josh Dix is guard depth
• Riley Mulvey and Josh Ogundele are center depth. If you see them in the game it's likely because Rebraca is in foul trouble or the game is out of hand

Probable starters for Nebraska
5    Sam Griesel    G    6-7

30  Keisei Tominaga    G    6-2

10  Jamarques Lawrence - G  6-3

0   C.J. Wilcher    G    6-5

13  Derrick Walker    F    6-9

Bench

32  Wilhelm Breidenbach    F    6-10

12  Denim Dawson - F  6-6

15   Blaise Keita C   6-11

12   Sam Hoiberg    G    6-0

33  Oleg Kojenets    F    7-0

35  Henry Burt  F  6-6

24  Jeffrey Grace III  G  6-3

Injured

3   Quaran McPherson   G   6-3 - Out for the Year

4   Juwan Gary  F  6-6 - Out for the Year

25  Emmanuel Bandoumel    G    6-4 - Out for the Year

Redshirting 

2   Ramel Lloyd Jr.  G 6-6

31  Cale Jacobsen  G  6-4

The Skinny: 

A meaningful game for Nebraska as a win over Iowa in the regular season ender can potentially vault the Huskers up to 10th in the conference and put them in the running for the NIT.  They face a formidable opponent in Iowa who has been on fire the last 2 games which includes putting up 90 points in Bloomington on Tuesday.

Nebraska is likely down post players in this game but Iowa itself isn't a sizable team. The Husker defense will need plenty of juice today as Iowa is likely to knock down shots at home.

Prediction: Iowa 86 - Nebraska 73