The Hawkeyes return to Big Ten play against the UCLA Bruins
The Iowa Hawkeyes (11-2, 1-1) return to Big Ten play to face the UCLA Bruins (10-3, 2-0). It’s the Hawkeyes first power conference game since Iowa State, 20+ days ago, and kicks off the conference season in earnest. Since my previous blog, the Hawks have pantsed 3 buy games by a combined margin of 275-152.
Doing a quick round up of Iowa’s advanced analytics, KenPom ($) has them 18th after starting out the season 48th. Bart Torvik has Iowa 17th, up 21 spots from the beginning of the season. In TeamRankings post-UMass Lowell victory, they place Iowa 21st and give them an 88% chance of making the tournament.
It’s shaping up like quite the turnaround, as things were not nearly this optimistic this time last year, despite a similar 10-3 record. KenPom had the Hawks 45th before a January 3rd blowout loss at Wisconsin. The NET puts Iowa 12th(!!!). But as we know, Big Ten play can be relentless & the season can turn on a dime.
UCLA, for their part, has just one “what the heck?” result: an 80-72 loss to Cal in San Francisco. They swept their early conference games – at Washington and home v Oregon – and their two losses are to top 10 outfits (Arizona & Gonzaga). They were leading Arizona, who remains undefeated, with about 2:00 left so this team can hang with the best.
UCLA Bruins (10-3, 2-0)
Los Angeles, CA
Mick Cronin (148-67 at UCLA, 513-238 overall)
How to Watch
Today, 1/3: UCLA at Iowa
5:00 PM CT, Peacock (Link to Game) (Paul Burmeister & Jess Settles)
Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, IA
Hawkeye Radio Network
Live Stats (StatBroadcast)
Stat Pack
KenPom ($): +19.87; 33rd (120.6; 29th | 100.8; 53rd)
BartTorvik: 29th (121.7; 22nd | 101.2; 60th)
Sports-Ref:
PPG: 81.7 (99th) | 68.6 (86th)
RPG: 33.1 | 31.9
Leaders (via Sports-Ref)
PPG: Tyler Bilodeau (19.0), Skyy Clark (14.2)
RPG: Eric Dailey Jr. (5.6, 1.3 off), Bilodeau (5.2, 1.1 off)
APG: Donovan Dent (6.6), Trent Perry (2.5)
FG% (min 10 MPG, 2 FGA/game): Xavier Booker (57.5%), Bilodeau (54.8%)
3P% (min 1 3PA/game): Clark (49.3%), Bilodeau (46.7%)
Last 5 games
12/23: W v UC Riverside: 97-65
12/19: W v Cal Poly: 108-87
12/17: W v Arizona St.: 90-77
12/13: L v Gonzaga (N): 82-72
12/6: W v Oregon: 74-63
While neither of these teams have played a ton of December games, I’m curious to see how UCLA comes out after 10 days between games. Iowa’s at 4. UCLA was spotty on the road last season, with 3 of their 5 victories being the West Coast trips. They went 2-5 elsewhere with wins only at Indiana & Northwestern. It’ll be fun to see the Hawkeyes take on a good opponent after the stretch of games against P5 competition. Let’s keep these good vibes going with a victory!
Category: General Sports
