Iowa/ISU Matchups

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BryceC

Well-Known Member
Looking forward to the game on Friday. I’ve said it on this board a few times but I wanted to have a matchup discussion and talk about some stuff I haven’t seen being discussed that I think are advantages/disadvantages for both teams, keys to victory, etc. I’m an ISU fan and I have a feeling that ISU is going to lose this one, which would honestly bum me out much more than it should considering I’m a 32 year old with a family and 10000x more important things going on, but hey, it’s why we love sports.

Iowa advantages: Height. This one is a no brainer, but I think an underrated matchup is Kane/Marble. When opposing teams have put smaller guards on Kane he has absolutely abused them by posting them up or using his strength against them to get to the free throw line. He’s shooting it much better than he has historically (50% from the floor/70% from the line) but it’s largely due to the clearouts/post-up game he’s been able to take advantage of, which I don’t think will exist against a taller and battle-tested Marble.

The inside height has been hashed out for a long time. It exists, but IMO I think we see ISU run the same offense they did against KU last year which is essentially a “5 out†offense with Ejim and Niang shooting it from the wing/driving, and Hogue driving and crashing the boards, so we’ll see how much it comes in to play.

Depth: Could be big time if foul trouble comes in to play which Iowa does a good job of. Probably my #1 concern and honestly why I think Iowa wins.

ISU advantages: Despite the height advantage I like ISU’s ability to rebound, I think ISU/Xavier are comparable in how they rebound and crash the glass and Xavier was able to hurt Iowa with second chance points. Hogue/Ejim are dopplegangers who thrive on the offensive glass and both have the old ISU undersized, nasty rebounder gene that goes back to Kenny Pratt. Big key if ISU is going to win IMO.

Hilton: This has been hashed out ad-nauseum so I won’t go into it. However it is an advantage that exists. I’m still not totally convinced Iowa has overcome their road woes from last season despite good play on neutral courts this year.


The #1 offensive key in this game in my opinion is ISU’s ability to hit 3’s from Ejim and Niang. Ejim is shooting 39% so far this year, Niang not as well but he did shoot 39% for the season last year so he has the ability. Need to stretch the floor, create driving lanes for Hogue/Kane, and give them opportunities to get to the offensive glass. Defensively, it has to be the ability to play at least passable defense without fouling. If Ejim, Niang, or Hogue spend significant amounts of time on the bench I don’t like ISU’s odds and I do think at least one of them gets in foul trouble. The equalizer there could be Hilton, last year ISU lead the country in foul disparity between home/away games. They get more fouls at home and are charged for fewer more than any team in the country. ISU fans take heat for booing and being numbskulls at home, and rightly so in some cases, however it does appear to work.

Good luck and hopefully the fans on either side don’t go too nuts afterward.
 
IMO, the x factor in this game is Basabe. He seems to be about the only guy on the team that welcomes a hostile environment to play in. If he is acitve and blocking/altering shots like he did against Drake he becomes a totally different player.
 
I think the difference this year is Hilton. Like you said Iowa has not proved they can win on the road and the neutral court wins are nice but do not prove they have gotten past that. I would not be surprised to see Iowa fall behind early in this one and crawl their way back in it to make it close in the 2nd half. But in the end I would be surprised to see Iowa come out of Hilton with a win, I give the edge to ISU.
 
I'm sure I'll get called crazy for this, but I'm not concerned much at all about 3 pointers from ISU. They may hit 12-14 of them. And if they do, we'll live with it.

What we have to protect against are the easy run outs and the offensive rebounding. For example, in the Villanova game, I know they hit a ton of 3's, but it wasn't that that beat us....it was our lack of rebounding and their ability to get 2nd shots that beat us.

We need to hit a decent % of our shots so we can set up our 3/4 court pressure in order to slow ISU down and lessen the time they have to set up their offense in the half court. Then we MUST rebound their misses.
 
Keys for Iowa are stopping dribble penetration from Kane, keeping Ejim and Hogue off the boards and putting ISU in foul trouble. I would love to make ISU go deep into their bench and play Morris, Long and others for extended periods of time. Fred likes to really ride his top guys and if we can force him to go to his bench that will really favor Iowa.

We also need White and Uthoff to show up big time. Role players step up more at home and being on the road we need our top guys to come through. White can't have one of his 7 points on four shots and 3 boards type of games, he needs to be ready to go against two very physical players in Ejim and Hogue. Same for Uthoff, can't have a Xavier type game out of him. It's his first road game, so we'll see how he responds.
 
I think this game will be very good for Iowa getting ready for B 10 play. They appear to be much tougher mentely this year to me.. But I will be surprised if we go into Hilton and get a win. About as tough of place to play as there is.
 
I can easily see this one going either way. I think the outcome depends on if ISU is hot from beyond the arc or not, and if they're missing we better not be giving them 2nd chance opportunities. Niang kind of worries me also. Hopefully having trouble with talented big men isn't something that continues into a trend, otherwise it'll be a long night, and season for that matter. In the end, I think ISU barely pulls this one out. I give them the edge due to the "Hilton magic". If the game were in Carver, I think Iowa definitely wins. Iowa needs to prove that the VA win on the road last season wasn't an aberration.
 
My three keys to the game are:

1) Rebounding, especially offensive - Can ISU bigs keep Iowa bigs from abusing them on the offensive glass? Iowa has made up for cold shooting at times via multiple looks.
2) Limited early fouling - The tighter the game is called, the better for Iowa with more experienced depth.
3) Shooting - But strangely, not Iowa States. In Hilton, I expect Iowa State to shoot decent. However, if Iowa is able to knock down the perimeter 3 early, it changes the whole flow of the game, limits ISU doubling down low, and then likely leads to more fouls on ISU bigs as outlined in point 2.
 
I'm just glad we're finally back to match ups where both teams are good instead of both teams sucking!
 
I agree w/Bryce that Iowa's depth needs to win this game. In fact, it needs to be and probably will be the key to our entire season. I think Iowa's end of game performance is what caused the road woe's last season, and while I think they've improved in that area, they haven't proven it on the road yet. I would like to see Iowa be able to play man to man in the 2nd half to combat open 3's and long offensive rebounds by the 'clones. I think a combination of McCabe/Basabe/Uthoff can neutralize Niang (who was a matchup issue for us last season), with Uthoff being the primary. Olaseni and Woody will take Ejim, with Gabe as primary. The converse is that I don't know that isu can match up with Marble, Uthoff and White. We have more mismatches in our favor on offense then they do. It'll be a tough game, but I like Iowa's chances, as I think they've had this circled all season as the "first road test and are we BIG ready" game, as other posters have pointed out. Now, let beat Fairleigh Dickinson tonight and then enjoy the clash on Friday.
 
ArvadaHawk said:
I agree w/Bryce that Iowa's depth needs to win this game. In fact, it needs to be and probably will be the key to our entire season. I think Iowa's end of game performance is what caused the road woe's last season, and while I think they've improved in that area, they haven't proven it on the road yet. I would like to see Iowa be able to play man to man in the 2nd half to combat open 3's and long offensive rebounds by the 'clones. I think a combination of McCabe/Basabe/Uthoff can neutralize Niang (who was a matchup issue for us last season), with Uthoff being the primary. Olaseni and Woody will take Ejim, with Gabe as primary. The converse is that I don't know that isu can match up with Marble, Uthoff and White. We have more mismatches in our favor on offense then they do. It'll be a tough game, but I like Iowa's chances, as I think they've had this circled all season as the "first road test and are we BIG ready" game, as other posters have pointed out. Now, let beat Fairleigh Dickinson tonight and then enjoy the clash on Friday.
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I think you correctly point out that match-ups are key. I will be surprised if Uthoff becomes the primary on Niang, as he has abused oposing bigs that don't have the girth to bang or at least have exceptional length. His outside shooting hasn't proven to be as consistent as last year, so your tradtional centers may be able to guard him with length inside. If Niang is hitting from outside, especially early, that is a game changer as it likely dictates a different rotation for Iowa.

For both Iowa (Marble) and Iowa State (Kane) they have been able to feast with a significant height advantage. I don't know if they will actually be matched up much, but if they are and foul trouble doesnt limit it, this might be the best match-up of the night. Good call on pointing this out as I think it will be a key.
 
CyberJJJ said:
My three keys to the game are:

1) Rebounding, especially offensive - Can ISU bigs keep Iowa bigs from abusing them on the offensive glass? Iowa has made up for cold shooting at times via multiple looks.
2) Limited early fouling - The tighter the game is called, the better for Iowa with more experienced depth.
3) Shooting - But strangely, not Iowa States. In Hilton, I expect Iowa State to shoot decent. However, if Iowa is able to knock down the perimeter 3 early, it changes the whole flow of the game, limits ISU doubling down low, and then likely leads to more fouls on ISU bigs as outlined in point 2.
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3J, I haven't seen isu play this year, so my analysis is one sided. In my opinion, while Iowa has improved their 3pnt shooting (Uthoff/Jok), I don't see that they need to take as many as they needed to last season when they had less and less experienced scorers. Iowa has 10 guys (11 when Oglesby comes back) that can score 15+ on any given night, and they can do it inside, mid-range and from the line. But, makig 3 pntr's is always good. I think Iowa being able to run or not is the key to the game. You are right, though, the team that rebounds the best has the advantage.
 
I have to believe that ISU will shoot lights out from 3, but Iowa will control the paint. Iowa should shoot about twice as many free throws, so if they can hit at a good percentage I like our chances. The key will be Niang, can we shut him down?
 
I agree with pretty much everything the OP said. The key to the game will be rebounding. Hawks need to box out on D and limit ISUs offensive boards. The player I think will play well is McCabe (IF he can stay out of foul trouble). Being a road game I like his toughness and experience. I think Vegas makes this ISU -3 but will be a close one and could go either way. Going to need a complete game in order to win in Hilton.
 
damnfinn said:
I have to believe that ISU will shoot lights out from 3, but Iowa will control the paint. Iowa should shoot about twice as many free throws, so if they can hit at a good percentage I like our chances. The key will be Niang, can we shut him down?
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I marked this game down as a loss prior to the season starting and nothing has changed my mind. I just hope we keep it to within 10 points.

This loss will have no bearing on the rest of our season. It is a rivalry game and something strange will happen like Edozie coming off the bench and going 7-7 from three only to never hit another three ball the rest of the year.
 
While I could see Edozie coming off the bench, especially in the first half if there is foul trouble, Fred has shown the penchant of late to going smaller rather than bigger when there is foul trouble with the bigs. Thus brining Naz Long, Monte Morris or SDW into the game before going big. But, with as many banked in 3's as we have seen in the last couple of years, I won't complain if that is what it takes for the Clones to pull a W.
 
The nice thing about this match-up for Iowa is a loss to ISU at Hilton isn't going to hurt much if at all. It's a quality loss and will improve RPI regardless. A win and it's a HUGE RPI boost and very quality road win. Maybe the best road win of the season. It's win-win for Iowa. Unlike in football where it's a lose-lose for Iowa either way.
 
Iowa is a veteran team, ISU is less so. This game will be tight. If ISU goes all Lafester with their shooting percentage then Iowa is going to have a tough time pulling it out at the end. Need to hold them to under 12 3's. Iowa needs to hit 7 or 8 themselves.

Remember, ISU is all about the 3.
 
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