College Basketball

Iowa Basketball: Get To Know Ohio State Buckeyes

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 4:34 p.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

Fansided, Jeremy Karll/FanSided via Dear Old Gold

Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

Iowa basketball and Ohio State tipoff at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN this Saturday

This season is quickly slipping away from Iowa basketball. The Hawkeyes lost their third straight game on Wednesday against Illinois and fell to 11-10 on the year and 3-5 in conference play. Iowa is in danger of not finishing .500 this season.

The schedule does not get much easier on Saturday when Ohio State comes to town. The Buckeyes are tied with Iowa at 3-5 in Big Ten play, but they’re 13-8 on the year and have won three of their past four games after starting conference play 0-4.

After starting the season 6-0, Ohio State hasn’t been able to gain any momentum this season. They lost to Florida Atlantic 79-77 in overtime and have only two back-to-back wins since their hot start to the season.

That said, Iowa could be catching Ohio State at the wrong time as it looks like their season is getting back on track in time to make a late push for the NCAA Tournament. Ohio State beat Michigan State a couple of weeks ago and are coming off a big 78-72 win over Minnesota.

Still, the Buckeyes are just 190th in the nation in points per game and 69th in points allowed per game. They rank just 10th in scoring and ninth in points allowed during conference play, too.

As good as Ohio State has looked recently, it’s evident by their play this season that it can end at any time. They had back-to-back double-digit losses before their recent hot streak, and the Buckeyes are just 1-3 on the road in conference play.

In a must-win game for the Hawkeyes, it could come down to which Ohio State shows up on Saturday.

Mandatory Credit: Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

Thad Matta

Thad Matta is in the midst of his roughest two-year stretch since Ohio State hired him leading up to the 2004-05 season. After a 24-win season at Butler and three 26-win seasons at Xavier, Matta has gone 333-116 in his now 13th season at Ohio State.

These past two years haven’t been as successful, though. This could be the first season Ohio State fails to win 20 games and the first time the Buckeyes miss the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons under Matta.

For a “football school”, the Buckeyes have had unprecedented success since Matta took over. Last season ended their seven-year NCAA Tournament streak and the first season since 2007-08, when they went 24-13, that they never cracked the AP top 25.

Ohio State has been ranked no. 1 twice under Matta and made the national championship in 2006-07 but lost to the Florida Gators. The Buckeyes also made the Final Four in 2011-12, which makes this two-year drought seem like an eternity.

In fact, Ohio State has won at least one game in seven of their nine NCAA Tournament appearances under Matta and at least two games five times.

Plus, in historically one of the toughest conferences in the nation, Matt has led Ohio State to five Big Ten regular season championships and four conference tournament championships. It’s telling of how good and overlooked Ohio State has been under Matta.

Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Players To Watch

Trevor Thompson: 11.0 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 1.9 BPG, 58.8 FG%

This season, seven-foot junior Trevor Thompson only trails Caleb Swanigan in rebounds per game at 9.3. He’s also fourth in blocks per game and sixth in field-goal percentage. Thompson has emerged as one of the best all-around threats in the Big Ten this year.

After Maverick Morgan and Michael Finke disrupted Iowa’s offense in the paint on Wednesday, the Hawkeyes have an even bigger challenge on Saturday. They have to attack Thompson and try to get him into foul trouble. As good of a shot blocker as he is, Thompson has been known to get into foul trouble this season with at least three fouls in 13 games and fouling out five times.

Still, Thompson is coming off back-to-back double-doubles, including 11 points and 15 rebounds against Northwestern. He has found his footing in Big Ten play, to say the least. In conference play, Thompson has at least 10 points in all but one game, at least eight rebounds in all but two games and multiple blocks five times.

With expected changes in the starting lineup, Iowa needs to find a way to keep Thompson off the glass and get him into foul trouble or he’ll dominate the game.

JaQuan Lyle: 12.3 PPG, 5.2 APG, 3.2 RPG, 1.1 SPG, 40.9 3P%

Just like Thompson, sophomore JaQuan Lyle is starting to find his footing on offense. He has double-digit points in seven of eight Big Ten games, including 26 points in their conference opener against Illinois. Plus, he has two double-doubles with assists and his 5.2 assists per game is good enough for fourth in the conference.

Also, he’s tied with Peter Jok for 17th in steals per game among Big Ten players, so getting Jordan Bohannon fully healthy will be important. That said, Lyle is known for his offense, especially his three-point shooting.

In fact, Lyle is shooting an astounding 64 percent from three in the past six games and 56.3 percent in conference play. Iowa let Illinois shoot 9-of-19 from three on Wednesday, therefore Lyle could be in for a big game if Iowa doesn’t guard the perimeter better.

He and Bohannon are two of the brightest young point guards in the conference, so this is a great measuring stick game for both players.

More from Dear Old Gold

This article originally appeared on

share

Get more from College Basketball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

College Basketball

Ohio State Buckeyes