Iowa men face Ohio State Monday in Columbus looking for elusive first Big Ten road win
By Hawk Fanatic
The Iowa men’s basketball team is 0-4 in Big Ten road games this season, and 0-6 against Quad 1 opponents.
If this pattern continues, Iowa will fall short in making the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season, though there is always the chance that Iowa could win the conference tournament and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament as it did in 2022.
But that would certainly be asking a lot from a team that has been wildly inconsistent and that hasn’t played very well away from home this season.
What Iowa needs more than anything is to start winning some Big Ten road games with the next opportunity coming against Ohio State on Monday in Columbus Ohio.
The Buckeyes have also been inconsistent this season as they won at No. 11 Purdue 73-70 this past Tuesday to snap a three-game losing streak.
Ohio State rallied from 16 points down to stop the Boilermakers 26-game home winning streak.
Ohio State has played five straight one-possession games. The team is 11-8 overall and 3-5 in Big Ten play.
Iowa is coming off a 76-75 victory over Penn State this past Friday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena where Iowa has an 11-2 record this season. The win over Penn State also snapped a three-game losing streak.
Ohio State and Iowa both will have to start stacking wins before it’s too late, so it could be argued that Monday’s game is a must-win for both teams in their quests to make the NCAA Tournament.
Iowa can’t afford to keep losing Big Ten road games, whereas the Buckeye can’t afford to lose another Big Ten home game.
Ohio State has five players averaging at least 9.1 points per game with point guard Bruce Thornton leading the way with a 17.1 scoring average. He also has a team-high 82 assists, shoots 52.3 percent from the field, 41.8 from 3-point range and 84.7 from the line.
Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery spoke highly of Thornton on a zoom conference Sunday morning.
“Thornton is a really special player,” Fran McCaffery said. “I’ve been impressed with him from the minute he came into this league. He is the true definition of a gamer, really good feel, really intelligent guy.
“So, you surround him with good players and it makes it even that much more difficult to deal with because they have really talented group. But it starts with him, he’s the key to it all.”
Devin Royal averages 13.9 points and a team-best 7.3 rebounds, while John Mobley, Jr. (12.3) and Micah Parrish (11.2) are also in double figures. Parrish also has a team-best 22 steals.
Iowa three players averaging nearly 16 points in Big Ten play — Payton Sandfort (16.3), Owen Freeman (16.1) and Josh Dix (15.9).
Iowa (13-7, 4-5) vs. Ohio State (11-8, 3-5)
When: Monday, 7 p.m.
Where: Columbus, Ohio, Value City Arena (18,809)
TV: FS1
Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network
All-time series: Monday’s game is the 171st meeting in the all-time series between Iowa and Ohio State, dating back to
1915. The series is tied at 85 apiece.
The two teams split a pair of meetings a season ago with the Hawkeyes winning, 79-77, in Iowa City. Ohio State won a neutral site matchup, 90-78, in the Big Ten Tournament in Minneapolis.
Editor’s note: hawkeyesports.com contributed to this report.