WHO: Rider Broncs (3-1)
WHEN: 7:00 PM CT (Tuesday, November 19, 2024)
WHERE: Vibrant Arena at The MARK (Moline, IL) Carver-Hawkeye Arena (Iowa City, IA)
TV: BTN+ (Joel Kellar, Jess Settles)
RADIO: Hawkeye Radio Network (Gary Dolphin, Bobby Hansen)
MOBILE: https://www.bigtenplus.com/en-int/livestream/rider-at-iowa/1816048 ($)
ONLINE: https://www.bigtenplus.com/en-int/livestream/rider-at-iowa/1816048 ($)
FOLLOW: @HawkeyeBeacon | @IowaHoops | @CBBonFOX | @IowaonBTN
LINE: Iowa -21.5 (total of 156.5)
KENPOM: Iowa -19 (Iowa 96% chance of winning)
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP
G Brock Harding (6'0", 165 lbs; 5.8 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 5.5 apg; 40.0 FG%; 66.7 3FG%)
G Josh Dix (6'6", 210 lbs; 12.3 ppg; 2.2 rpg; 4.0 apg; 51.5 FG%; 44.4 3FG%)
F Payton Sandfort (6'8", 215 lbs; 16.8 ppg; 7.3 rpg; 4.5 apg; 42.3 FG%; 36.4 3FG%)
F Ladji Dembele (6'8", 255 lbs; 8.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg; 1.0 apg; 45.8 FG%; 33.3 3FG%)
C Owen Freeman (6'10", 245 lbs; 17.0 ppg; 9.3 rpg; 1.0 apg; 58.3 FG%; 33.3 3FG%)
PROJECTED RIDER STARTING LINEUP
G Ruben Rodriguez (6'2", 175 lbs; 3.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, 23.5 FG%, 0.0 3FG%)
G TJ Weeks (6'4", 190 lbs; 16.0 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.8 apg, 46.3 FG%, 40.7 3FG%)
F Jay Alvarez (6'5", 210 lbs; 9.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.8 apg, 33.3 FG%, 47.4 3FG%)
F Ife West-Ingram (6'6", 205 lbs; 6.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 2.5 apg, 66.7 FG%, 0.0 3FG%)
C Tariq Ingraham (6'9", 255 lbs; 8.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.0 apg, 42.3 FG%, 0.0 3FG%)
PREVIEW
Rider enters Tuesday night's game on a three-game winning streak -- though the competition the Broncs have faced hasn't been the stiffest. After getting blasted by Big Ten newcomer UCLA in their season opener (85-50), the Broncs have wins over San Diego (68-67), Coppin State (64-53), and Navy (90-79). None of those three teams ranks any higher than 293rd in the KenPom rankings at present.
Rider head coach Kevin Baggett has been with the Broncs for almost 20 years. He started as an assistant coach in 2006, became associate head coach in 2008, and then took over as the full head coach in 2012, holding the position for the past 13 seasons. During that span, Rider has gone 192-183 with a pair of 20+ win seasons and three appearances in postseason alphabet soup tournaments (NIT, CBI, CIT), though the Broncs haven't finished better than 18-12 since 2020 and they've finished with a losing record in three of the last four seasons.
Stylistically, the Broncs are a slow team -- they rank 267th in adjusted tempo -- and a really slow team on offense, where they rank 323th with an average possession length of 19.0 seconds. Rider is below average on offense (229th in offensive efficiency) and defense (247th in defensive efficiency) and especially bad at turning the ball over, with 20.9% of offensive possessions ending in a turnover (295th).
The Broncs are also a poor shooting team; they have an effective FG% of 47.7 (242nd) and make just 46.4% of their 2-point attempts (268th), though they have converted three-pointers at a steady one-third clip (33.3%, 158th). The Broncs get a lot of shots blocked (13.8%, 308th) and, as noted, turn the ball over a lot (steals on 11.0% of possessions, 253rd; non-steal turnovers on 9.9% of possessions, 296th).
Foul rate is one of the few things the Broncs have been good at this year, on offense and defense. Rider ranks 54th in offensive free throw rate (they get to the free throw line at a pretty good clip) and 67th in defensive free throw rate (they don't put opponents on the free throw line very often). The Broncs have also been decent at cleaning up their own misses (105th in offensive rebound rate), although they haven't been good at keeping opponents off the glass (234th in defending offensive rebounds).
Rider ranks 146th in bench minutes this season and the Broncs have consistently been using at least seven players. Among players who have seen action in all four games this year, seven are averaging at least 11 minutes per game, with another getting eight minutes a game. Two other players are averaging double-figure minutes while seeing action in three games apiece.
That spread out playing time is reflected a bit in some more balanced statistics. Only one player -- wing TJ Weeks -- is averaging double figures in points (16.0 ppg on 46.3% shooting). He's also second on the team in rebounds (5.8 rpg), fourth in assists (1.8 apg), and tops in steals (1.3 spg). He's been one of their best three-point shooters as well, converting 11 of 27 attempts (40.7%) from deep.
Jay Alvarez is their other top long-range shooter, making nine of 19 attempts (47.4%), while averaging 9.8 ppg. No one else on Rider has attempted more than seven three-point attempts this season.
While Weeks is the only Bronc scoring in double figures on a regular basis, five other Broncs are averaging at least 5.0 ppg, led by Alvarez (9.8 ppg), Tariq Ingraham (8.3 ppg), and Flash Burton (7.8 ppg). Ife West-Ingram (6.5 ppg) is coming off his best game of the season as well; he got his first start of the season against Navy and had 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting, seven rebounds, and six assists.
The Broncs have reasonable height on the perimeter, but they don't possess a lot of height on the interior. 6'9" Tariq Ingraham starts at center, while 7'2" Alaaeddine Boutayeb has been playing around 11 minutes a game off the bench. They could be hard-pressed to slow down Owen Freeman.
This looks like a game where Freeman (and potentially Ladji Dembele and Seydou Traore) could flourish, as well as a game where Iowa's defense ought to be able to do some damage in the turnover department and get some transition looks and easy buckets. The Broncs rate slightly higher than the cupcake fare that Iowa opened the season with, but they still look like an opponent that the Hawkeyes should be able to handle fairly comfortably if they have the requisite amount of focus.
