The No. 20 Iowa Hawkeyes hit the road tonight to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers in Big Ten college basketball action. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start time and it will be televised live on the Big Ten Network. Currently the odds for the game have Iowa favored by a couple of points in this one.
Iowa has the rare combination of having a team that scores a lot of points and rebounds the basketball well. The Hawkeyes rank seventh best in the country, averaging more than 83 points per game. They corral nearly 43 rebounds per game, which ranks third best in the country. Oh yeah, they also pass the ball well with more than 16 assists per game and they shoot 47 percent from the floor.
Minnesota will want to slow the game down as much as possible. The Golden Gophers aren't nearly as good as Iowa in any of those categories and they're going to have to gum this game up in order to stay in this game.
The Hawkeyes are going to end their 8-year drought of not making the NCAA Tournament this year. Minnesota needs this win tonight if they think they can get into the Big Dance as this contest would certainly be a resume builder. Iowa is still probably trying to figure out how they lost to Wisconsin on Saturday when they gave up an 8-2 run with just over a minute left in the game. The Hawkeyes are 2.5 games behind Michigan in the conference standings and it doesn't appear they'll be able to catch the Wolverines for the conference crown, even though they did split with them this season.
Roy Devyn Marble has been scoring points for the Hawkeyes, as he tossed in 21 against Wisconsin in addition to handing out 11 assists. Josh Oglesby had a big game with 17 points as well in that contest. But Iowa, who normally is a quality shooting club, didn't connect on enough shots to hang on for the win. The Hawkeyes shoot just over 24percent from 3-point range in their five Big Ten losses compared to 38.8 percent in their other games.
Minnesota has gone 13-3 in home games this season while Iowa is 4-3 on the road. But the Hawkeyes have gone 6-0 in the next game coming off a loss so far this season. They've knocked off Minnesota four of the last five games overall.
In this game, notice that Minnesota absolutely has to have this one if they're going to make the tournament. Iowa drilled Minnesota in the contest in Iowa City earlier this year by 21 points. We expect the Hawkeyes to get a road victory here tonight.
Free Pick: Iowa 73, Minnesota 68
Handicapping Tips: NCAA Best Bets
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