Tip Time Preview
CAL POLY (1-4) vs. IOWA (2-1)
TIME: 4:01 p.m.
TV: BTN – Mike Hall and Jess Settles on the call.
SERIES: This will be the first meeting between Iowa and Cal Poly. Iowa is 10-2 against schools from the Big West conference.
THE LINE: Iowa is a 22 point favorite
THE NUMBERS
OFFENSE: CAL POLY – 67.4 PPG, 47.4% FG, 45.3% 3 PT FG, IOWA – 83.9 PPG, 45.2% FG, 31.5% 3 PT FG.
DEFENSE: CAL POLY – 72.7 PPG, 46.1% FG, 35.8% 3 PT FG. IOWA – 73.8 PPG, 46.1% FG, 38.9% 3 PT FG.
THE LINEUPS
CAL POLY
6-0 guard Kevin Smith – 3.8 points and 3.5 assists per game
6-3 guard Junior Ballard – 12.0 points and 2.8 rebounds per game
6-3 guard Jamal Smith – 9.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game
6-10 forward Tuukka Jaakkola – 8.8 points and 3.6 rebounds per game
6-6 forward Kyle Colvin – 10.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game
IOWA
6-5 guard Connor McCaffery – 6.5 points and 5.0 assists per game
6-3 guard C.J. Fredrick – 7.8 points and 1.5 rebounds per game
6-6 guard Joe Wieskamp – 11.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game
6-11 forward Jack Nunge – 6.8 point and 4.5 rebound per game
6-11 center Luka Garza – 23.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game
PLAYER TO WATCH – Luka Garza – The Iowa big man is on fire in the past few games. It’s early, but Garza is leading the Big Ten in scoring and that’s thanks to back to back games where he has scored at least 29 points. He’s the first Iowa player to achieve that since Matt Gatens did it in the 2011-12 season. Iowa should have a pretty good size advantage in this game and that could mean that Garza is in line for another big game.
KEY MATCHUP – Joe Wieskamp vs. Jamal Smith – After two tough games, Joe Wieskamp bounced back on Thursday night for a solid effort. After the game, the sophomore wing let the media know he had been dealing with an elbow issue that explains why the usually consistent Hawkeye struggled to score in back to back games. Smith is probably Cal Poly’s best player and shooter, so this could be an interesting head to head battle in the game.
STATS AND NOTES
This contest matches up two coaches who have their children playing for them in this game. Fran McCaffery has two sons on the Iowa team, Connor and Patrick. Cal Poly’s coach John Smith has his son Jamal playing for him. They are two of 13 father/coach and son/player duos in D1 basketball this season.
The Hawkeyes have won 62 of their last 67 non-conference home games since the start of the 2012 season.
Iowa has won 20 or more games in five of the last seven seasons and finished in the upper half of the Big Ten in six of the last seven seasons.
KemPom.com rates Iowa as the 55th best team in college basketball. Cal Poly is rated by KenPom.com as the 323rd best team in college basketball. KenPom.com projects Iowa to win this game 84-61.
Jordan Bohannon is the Hawkeyes all-time leader in three point field goals made with 270. He is also 7th on the all-time assist list with 479 and just one assist behind Ronnie Lester for 6th all-time. Bohannon has led the Big Ten in free throw percentage made the last two years.
Luka Garza joined Aaron White, Jess Settles, and Tyler Cook as the only Iowa players to total 800 points and 350 rebounds in their first two years with the Hawkeyes. Garza has scored 912 points and pulled down 397 rebounds in his career. Garza is on the preseason Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Watch list, which recognizes the top center in college basketball.
Iowa has three players returning from redshirt seasons. Jack Nunge and C.J. Fredrick redshirted last season. Fredrick chose to redshirt in this first year at Iowa and Nunge played his freshman year and then opted to redshirt. He averaged 5.7 points per game in his freshman year. Cordell Pemsl also opted to redshirt last season due to a knee issue. He played in two games last year and has averaged 7.2 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
Joe Wieskamp was one of ten players selected to the All Big Ten preseason team. Last season he was named to the All Freshman team in the league, averaging 11.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Wieskamp is on the preseason Jerry West Award Watch List, which recognizes the top shooting guard in college basketball.
Iowa will play their first five games at Carver-Hawkeye Arena before hitting the road. Between November 28th and January 10th, Iowa will only play two home games.
This will be Iowa’s first game of the season on a Sunday. They are 32-23 in the McCaffery era on Thursday night games. Iowa is 2-0 this season in games played on the Big Ten Network. Iowa is 74-67 in games on the Big Ten Network during the McCaffery era.
THE PICK
This is Iowa’s final tune-up before they hit the road for six of their next seven games. And it’s not just hitting the road, it’s facing last year’s national runner-up Texas Tech, either Creighton or San Diego State, trips to Syracuse, Michigan and Iowa State, a neutral site game against a good Cincinnati team, and one home game against Minnesota.
That’s a big time stretch of games for a team that I think is still trying to figure itself out. Since the loss to DePaul, Iowa has played better basketball. Luka Garza has been outstanding, Jack Nunge has come on with back to back strong performances, and on Thursday night, Joe Toussaint showed the type of promise that gets Hawkeye fans excited.
Iowa will look to build upon those performances when they host Cal Poly. This game really shouldn’t be close. Cal Poly played in Omaha on Friday and lost by more than 20 points to Creighton so this is basically a game where Iowa should be looking to sharpen up what they need to as they head into a very difficult stretch of games.
A couple of things to watch in this one.
First, will Toussaint continue to grow as a point guard? After playing six minutes against Oral Roberts, he saw almost 19 minutes of action against North Florida, scoring 10 points and dishing out 4 assists. I think Iowa has to play him around 20 minutes a game.
Second, can Iowa’s reserve big men get going on both ends of the floor? Cordell Pemsl and Ryan Kriener have a lot of experience, but thus far they really haven’t started clicking. Iowa is going to need both of their veteran players in the next month if they are going to have success in those games. I thought both made progress in the last game, but more will be needed.
Lastly, after starting fast, C.J. Fredrick has kind of cooled off in the last two games. Iowa needs another shooter and Fredrick is the most likely candidate in that role.
I think you will see Iowa really try to push tempo and maybe use some pressure defense to try and create some easy baskets off turnovers. The Hawkeyes should be able to own the glass in this one so look for another game with a high number of second chance points. IOWA 85 CAL POLY 61