olivecourt
Well-Known Member
Iowa's next seven games look like this: vs. Purdue, at Wisconsin, at Minnesota, vs. Ohio State, at Michigan St., vs. Michigan, at Purdue.
If they are going to get a win out of that stretch, I think Wednesday's game offers the best opportunity. Purdue is definitely better than Iowa, don't get me wrong. But they haven't won a road game yet and struggled on a neutral floor with Iona (1-point win). They looked very shaky at home against High Point (2-point win) and Western Carolina (5-point win). Their best win is over Miami (#65 in KenPom's rankings).
Obviously Iowa can't brag about anything in comparison, as they don't even have a top-100 win. But there are a few other stats that look promising-- Purdue is only shooting 35% from 3 and 62% from the free throw line. Lord knows Iowa can make a team look good shooting from 3, but it isn't the strength of Purdue's team the way it was for UNI and some other squads the Hawks have faced.
The first game of the Big Ten season may be Iowa's best chance for a win in the first month of conference play. They will be coming off of a six-day break, which you could argue might kill their momentum, but Purdue will have had eight days off. I don't expect a pretty game, but I'm not going to be shocked to see Iowa pull off a win here-- maybe something of the 67-64 variety. Regardless, they need to play the way they've been playing the last couple of weeks (I would argue they have been much improved since the Brown game with the exception of eight bizarre minutes against UNI and a terrible first half against ISU). No more giving away positive momentum and starting back at square one, which is something we've seen all too often over the past few years.
If they are going to get a win out of that stretch, I think Wednesday's game offers the best opportunity. Purdue is definitely better than Iowa, don't get me wrong. But they haven't won a road game yet and struggled on a neutral floor with Iona (1-point win). They looked very shaky at home against High Point (2-point win) and Western Carolina (5-point win). Their best win is over Miami (#65 in KenPom's rankings).
Obviously Iowa can't brag about anything in comparison, as they don't even have a top-100 win. But there are a few other stats that look promising-- Purdue is only shooting 35% from 3 and 62% from the free throw line. Lord knows Iowa can make a team look good shooting from 3, but it isn't the strength of Purdue's team the way it was for UNI and some other squads the Hawks have faced.
The first game of the Big Ten season may be Iowa's best chance for a win in the first month of conference play. They will be coming off of a six-day break, which you could argue might kill their momentum, but Purdue will have had eight days off. I don't expect a pretty game, but I'm not going to be shocked to see Iowa pull off a win here-- maybe something of the 67-64 variety. Regardless, they need to play the way they've been playing the last couple of weeks (I would argue they have been much improved since the Brown game with the exception of eight bizarre minutes against UNI and a terrible first half against ISU). No more giving away positive momentum and starting back at square one, which is something we've seen all too often over the past few years.
