WHO: Northwestern Wildcats (15-5, 6-3 Big Ten)
WHEN: 8:07 PM CT
WHERE: Caver-Hawkeye Arena (Iowa City, IA)
TV: BTN (Jeff Levering and Jess Settles)
RADIO: Hawkeye Radio Network (Gary Dolphin and Bobby Hansen) | Sirius/XM TBD
MOBILE: www.foxsports.com/mobile
ONLINE: www.foxsports.com/live
FOLLOW: @IowaAwesome | @IowaHoops | @IowaonBTN
LINE: Iowa -7
KENPOM: Iowa -4 (65% chance of winning)

Iowa
G Tony Perkins (10.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.3 spg, 0.4 bpg, 39.6 FG%, 30.0 3FG%)
G Ahron Ulis (7.0 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.6 apg, 0.7 spg, 0.2 bpg, 40.9 FG%, 32.7 3FG%)
F Connor McCaffery (7.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.4 spg, 0.0 bpg, 43.8 FG%, 37.3 3FG%)
F Kris Murray (20.8 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 1.8 apg, 0.8 spg, 1.2 bpg, 50.6 FG%, 35.5 3FG%)
F Filip Rebraca (13.7 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 2.0 apg, 0.6 spg, 1.4 bpg, 56.5 FG%, 40 3FG%)

Northwestern
G Boo Buie (15.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 4.4 apg, 1.0 spg, 0.1 bpg, 37.7 FG%, 28.5 3FG%)
G Chase Audige (15.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 3.1 apg, 2.6 spg, 0.8 bpg, 40.3 FG%, 36.1 3FG%)
G Ty Berry (9.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.3 apg, 1.5 spg, 0.2 bpg, 37.6 FG%, 33.0 3FG%)
F Robbie Beran (9.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 0.8 apg, 0.7 spg, 1.0 bpg, 39.0 FG%, 36.1 3FG%)
C Matthew Nicholson (6.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.2 apg, 0.6 spg, 1.4 bpg, 53.8% FG, 0.0%)

Northwestern went 3-0 last week in their return to action after a brief pause due to an inability to field enough players as a result of positive COVID tests and injuries within the program. Those three wins came over Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Minnesota and helped the Wildcats get back on track after losing their two previous games (Rutgers at home, Michigan away) before their short hiatus. Those wins also improved Northwestern to 6-3, which is good for solo second-place in the Big Ten standings after Iowa knocked off Rutgers on Sunday.

So how has a Northwestern team that went 9-15 two years ago and just 15-16 last season managed to climb to second-place in the Big Ten this year? It starts with the excellent play of senior guards Boo Buie and Chase Audige, who might comprise the Big Ten's best back court. Both men are averaging nearly 16 ppg to lead the team, while Buie is also chipping in with 4.4 assists per game. Buie has largely picked up where he left off a season ago -- and when healthy, he's been one of Northwestern's best and most productive players for the last 3-4 seasons -- but Audige's game has made significant progress. His shooting numbers have taken a step forward across the board (he went from 26% to 36% on 3s, 39% to 44% on 2s, and 71% to 86% on free throws), all while shooting at a much higher volume than last year. Buie and Audige, as well as third guard Ty Berry, could give Iowa's guards all they can handle in this matchup.

As a team, the Wildcats haven't been particularly good at shooting the ball this season -- their effective FG% is just 47.2 (312th), while making only 32.7% of their 3s (242nd) and 45.9% of their 2s (322nd). Those numbers have been a little better in Big Ten play -- 49.0% / 34.8% / 46.9% -- but they've helped offset those mediocre or worse shooting numbers by turning the ball over even less (just 12.7% of possessions) and getting to the free throw line even more often, where they've been making almost 75% of their attempts.

The strength of this Northwestern team has been on the defensive side of the ball, where the Wildcats rank 22nd in defensive efficiency. They've held opponents to an effective FG% of 46.8 (44th best nationally), largely by contesting shots around the rim. Opponents are shooting just 43.1% on 2-point attempts (which ranks 7th nationally) while getting 14.8% of their shot attempts blocked. Audige and bigs Robbie Beran and Matthew Nicholson all have healthy block rates this season and create a lot of problems for opponents around the basket. The Wildcats also force a lot of turnovers, ranking in the Top 25 nationally in percentage of turnovers forced and steal rate. Audige, in particular, is a real threat in the passing lanes, averaging 2.6 steals per game and posting a top-20 steal rate nationally.

Whose second-best is better? The strength of Northwestern is the guard play, while Iowa's strength is in the front court, with Kris Murray and Filip Rebraca. Assuming the strengths of both teams are able to produce at their normal levels, the game may be decided by which team's weaker units -- the big for Northwestern, the guards for Iowa -- are able to perform at a high level. There may be even more pressure on Iowa's guards given the potential for Nicholson and Northwestern's interior defense to slow down Murray and Rebraca.

The good news for Iowa is that while the Hawkeye guards haven't necessarily been too consistent this season, they've had some very bright flashes. Ahron Ulis is in the midst of a career-best run of games and before that Payton Sandfort was producing a career-best run of form himself. Tony Perkins has been up-and-down this season, but he's been more up than down in home games, which could be a good sign for this game.

Ball security. Turnovers were a major contributing factor in Iowa's back-to-back defeats at Ohio State and Michigan State and the Hawkeyes still had some turnover concerns in Sunday's win over Rutgers (12), though they managed to off-set those concerns with strong shooting from long range (12/24 on 3s) and a lot of successful trips to the free throw line (29/34). Northwestern is another team very good at forcing turnovers and Iowa can ill afford to let them get too many easy scoring opportunities in transition.