IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa men’s basketball team has three nonconference games left before returning to Big Ten play in January, and up next is New Orleans on Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Iowa (7-3, 1-1) is coming off an 89-80 loss to Iowa State this past Thursday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Hawkeyes led for more than 33 minutes and by as many as 13 points before the third-ranked Cyclones rallied down the stretch.

Iowa is 6-1 at home this season and has won 94 of its last 101 nonconference home games, dating back to 2012.

Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery used a fourth different starting lineup of the season against Iowa State as graduate Drew Thelwell made his first start as a Hawkeye.

Iowa has held nine of its 10 opponents under 50 percent shooting, has forced at least 18 turnovers in five games and has held three opponents under 70 points.

The Hawkeyes are 96-3 when holding opponents to fewer than 61 points over the past 14-plus seasons.

Junior guard Josh Dix is averaging 16.5 points and six rebounds, while shooting 50 percent from the field (26-of-52) with nine 3-point field goals over his last four games. He scored 22 points and had a buzzer-beating 3 in the win over Northwestern on Dec. 3.

Dix has made all 14 of his free throw attempts this season.

Sophomore Brock Harding has scored in double digits in four of the last five games. He had a 20-point, 10-assist, four-steal double-double in
the win over USC Upstate. He is the only player in the nation with a 20-point, 10-assist, 4-steal game this season. Harding is averaging 13.2 points, seven assists and 2.8 steals over his last five games.

The Privateers have been off since Dec. 7 — a 73-70 road loss at Nicholls in the team’s Southland Conference opener. UNO is 2-6 overall with wins over Lindenwood and an overtime victory at Tulane.

New Orleans has two players averaging in double figures on the season with UAB transfer James White leading the way, averaging 18.5 points and 7.5 rebounds. He leads the Southland in scoring and is third in rebounding.

White has made 54 field goals and a team-high 15 3-pointers.

Jah Short is second on the team, averaging 12.9 points and has 16 steals. • The Privateers have already played road games at Kansas State and Baylor. After playing Iowa on Sunday, UNO has buy games at Texas, LSU and Vanderbilt remaining on the schedule.

Stacy Hollowell is in his first season as New Orleans’ head coach. He previously was an assistant at Texas Southern (2023-24), an associate AD for men’s basketball at Ole Miss (2022-23) and was the head coach at Loyola New Orleans for eight seasons.

New Orleans (2-6) vs. Iowa (7-3)

When: Sunday, 1 p.m.

Where: Carver-Hawkeye Arena

TV: Big Ten Network

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

SERIES HISTORY

Sunday’s game is the first meeting in the all-time series between Iowa and New Orleans. It is Iowa’s second game against a Southland Conference opponent this season as the Hawkeyes opened the regular season with an 89-67 victory over East Texas A&M.

Iowa is 10-1 all-time against current opponents from the Southland Conference

Editor’s note: hawkeyesports.com contributed to this report