Iowa Basketball: It's Now Or Never For Hawkeyes
Iowa’s basketball season relies on their next four games
It’s been an ugly past two games for Iowa basketball, and the rest of conference play hasn’t been much better. Iowa upset 17th ranked Purdue 10 days after losing by 22, and they took down Michigan, but their 3-4 conference record is fitting for how they’ve played.
Iowa is 11-9 and making their fourth straight NCAA Tournament seems like a long shot. At this point, it would take winning the Big Ten Tournament to get in, and even then the committee would have to knock a bubble team out for Iowa’s automatic bid.
The Hawkeyes would seemingly have to go 9-2 in their last 11 games to even be in the discussion. Even that might not be enough unless they went deep in the Big Ten Tournament.
It’s pointless to look that far into the future, though. Iowa’s next four games are all winnable and could put them in the thick of things in conference play. The Hawkeyes’ next four games are against four of the five teams below them in the conference standings.
At Illinois (12-8, 2-5 Big Ten), Ohio State (12-8, 2-5), at Rutgers (1-7, 12-9) and Nebraska (9-10, 3-4) is Iowa’s schedule through February 5. Iowa is a five-point underdog at Illinois tonight and could be an underdog at home against Ohio State on Saturday, but all are games Iowa can win.
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For one, Iowa already beat Rutgers 68-62 this season. It wasn’t Iowa’s best played game of the season, but they outscored Rutgers by six in the second half and held them to 38.4 percent shooting in the game and 26.7 percent three-point shooting.
Also, it took Nebraska double-overtime at home to beat Iowa 93-90. Despite Nebraska not being a great team, conference road games aren’t easy to win, which is evident by Iowa’s win over Purdue at home and nearly pulling the upset over Maryland. Plus, Nebraska was coming off back-to-back road wins over Indiana and Maryland, so their confidence was at an all-time high.
Now, they’re on a four game losing streak, which has a chance to be seven when they come to Iowa City on February 5, and won’t have the home court advantage that helped them in the first meeting.
Plus, it’s not like Nebraska dominated the overtimes. Iowa blew leads in both overtimes and at the end of regulation.
Even Iowa’s toughest two games, on the road at Illinois and at home against Ohio State, during this stretch, are games the Hawkeyes could easily win.
Iowa has won two straight at Illinois, and the Illini are on a three-game losing streak. While an Iowa win over Illinois would help their record, it would also be their freshmen’s first road win of the season. It’s a roadblock Iowa hasn’t gotten past yet, but they need to if they want to be even a little threat in the Big Ten Tournament.
Plus, the Hawkeyes are 2-1 in their last three meeting against Ohio State and are a much better home team. Only three of Iowa’s nine losses have come at home, compared to six coming on the road or at a neutral site.
The Buckeyes have talent but have underperformed, just like Illinois, this season. Ohio State started conference play with four straight losses and their two wins came by a combined five points.
Iowa could be catching Illinois and Ohio State at the right time, just like they caught Nebraska at the wrong time earlier this season. By no means will they be push-overs or easy wins, but these are the games Iowa has struggled to win this season but need to win to be considered a legitimate threat in the Big Ten.
The Big Ten is weaker than usual this season, too, therefore four straight wins could put the Hawkeyes top five in the conference at 7-4. Iowa is one of six teams with at least three conference losses, so they are still in the thick of things.
Iowa only has one winning streak of at least three games this season, but even that five-game winning streak included wins over Stetson, Delaware State and North Dakota. The Hawkeyes haven’t been able to string together wins this year, but this is around the time where freshmen are no longer a viable excuse.
Iowa has been up-and-down this season, but it’s not over. They have the potential to make a run, especially in a down year for the Big Ten, but time is running out.
It’s now or never for the Hawkeyes this year.
