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Iowa faces Big Ten foe, Minnesota on Saturday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Iowa faces Big Ten foe, Minnesota on Saturday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHERS (5-4) at #16 IOWA HAWKEYES (7-3)

TIME: 8:00pm

TV: Big Ten Network – Sloane Martin and Brenda VanLengen

SERIES: 83rd meeting – Iowa leads the series 55-27 (won seven in a row)

THE NUMBERS

OFFENSE: IOWA: 85.5 PPG, 49.0% FG, 36.0% 3PT, 12.7 TO MINNESOTA: 77.9 PPG, 42.4% FG, 33.1% 3PT, 17.1 TO

DEFENSE: IOWA: 69.5 PPG, 40.7% FG, 32.6% 3PT, 14.9 TO, +6.2 REB MARGIN MINNESOTA: 71.1 PPG, 41.7% FG, 30.1% 3PT, 18.8 TO, +2.9 REB MARGIN

PROJECTED LINEUPS

IOWA HAWKEYES

6’0 PG Caitlin Clark – 27.3 PPG, 7.2 REB, 7.0 AST, 34.1% 3PT

5’9 G Gabbie Marshall – 5.0 PPG, 32.8% FG

6’0 G Kate Martin – 6.8 PPG, 3.6 REB, 2.6 AST, 51.9% 3PT

6’1 F McKenna Warnock – 11.2 PPG, 5.6 REB, 40.0% 3PT

6’3 C Monika Czinano – 16.2 PPG, 7.6 REB, 64.1% FG

MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHERS

6’0 G Mara Braun – 19.8 PPG, 4.3 REB, 32.8% 3PT

5’7 G Katie Borowicz – 11.1 PPG, 3.7 AST, 45.1% FG, 42.1% 3PT

5’11 G Amaya Battle – 10.8 PPG, 5.9 REB, 5.1 AST, 38.4% FG

6’1 F Mallory Heyer – 11.1 PPG, 6.2 REB, 51.2% FG

6’2 F Alanna Micheaux – 13.1 PPG, 7.8 REB, 49.5% FG

IOWA PLAYER TO WATCH: C Monika Czinano

Monika Czinano has gone up against a pretty impressive list of post players through just ten games this season. Jelena Mitrovic, Aaliyah Edwards, River Baldwin, Camille Hobby, Stephanie Soares and Serah Williams. Tonight’s tests will be sophomore Alanna Micheaux, a player Czinano faced last year, true freshman Mallory Heyer and Arkansas transfer Destinee Oberg.

No disrespect to the players she will face, but Czinano, an honorable mention All-American last year, is decidedly the best player in the post tonight. She has scored 133 points (22.2 per gm) on 58/87 (66.7%) shooting over her last six games against Minnesota. Look for her to have a good night.

MINNESOTA PLAYER TO WATCH: G Mara Braun

Mara Braun is not exactly an unknown player in the college basketball world. She was rated as the #28 player in the country by ESPN out of high school and chose the Gophers over Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Arizona State and Oregon State. In her first year, she has been impressive.

Her second game of her college career she went for 34 points at hit a buzzer beater three pointer to defeat Lehigh. She also had 27 points against Wake Forest and 26 points against Penn State. She’s a talented freshman and is not afraid to put up shots. Hawkeyes will have to defend her well tonight.

KEY MATCHUP: Minnesota Pace vs Iowa defense

The Hawkeyes have worked to improve their defense and their positive strides have shown in some games (Belmont, Iowa State, Oregon State), but have also looked like previous Iowa teams at times (Drake, Kansas State, NC State). Minnesota is averaging 77.9 points, 78.7 possessions and 69.7 shots per game. Those numbers are those of an offense that loves to go up tempo and it will be a challenge for the Hawkeyes.

LISA BLUDER TALKS MINNESOTA

“This is a Minnesota team that is very different from the last Minnesota team. Not that they’re different with their style of play, but they’re different personnel. They’ve got four freshman and a sophomore in the starting lineup.”

“They’re really really talented, but they’re young, so they haven’t always been able to put away close games.”

“We kind of say it’s the rise of the innocent. You don’t know what you don’t know as freshman and sometimes you don’t realize you’re not supposed to be this good yet. They’re having some ups and downs with turnovers and things like that because of their youth, but they’re very talented kids.”

“Our defense in transition has got to be good…I believe they’re ranked 20th in the country, higher than we are at pace of play. I think we play at a pretty fast pace and they’re faster, so that’s pretty impressive.”

“We’re coming off a high. We beat Minnesota twice last year. We have them on our home court. Everybody’s getting ready for finals next week…I warned our team about that. I said this is a trap game.”

THE PICK

This Minnesota squad has taken a complete overhaul since last season. Allana Micheaux and Maggie Czinano are the only players with regular playing time that were on the roster last season. The new look Golden Gophers are a very young, but very talented group.

They have four losses, but they have come by a combined 19 points. They took 11-0 Virginia to the wire and recently lost 80-74 to 7-1 Kentucky. Their best win was a 98-96 2OT thriller against Penn State.

The starting lineup features three true freshmen, a redshirt freshman and a sophomore. Despite the youth, it is a highly touted lineup. Mara Braun leads the group averaging 19.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.1 three point makes per game. She was the #28 recruit in the class of 2022 by ESPN.

Amaya Battle, Mallory Heyer and Katie Borowicz are also all former Top 100 recruits by ESPN. The entire starting five is averaging in double figures. Alanna Micheaux, the lone non-top 100 recruit, is the only returning starter having started 16 games last season. She is second on the team in scoring (13.1 ppg), second in defensive rebounding (4.8 rpg) and first in offensive rebounding (3.0 rpg).

Katie Borowicz is the most “veteran” player on the team and has been with the Gophers for three seasons. She enrolled early in 2020 as the #98 recruit by ESPN for 2021, but missed all of last season due to an injury. In nine games this season Borowicz has scored in double figures six times. She went for 21 points against Liberty and 16 points in their most recent game against Kentucky.

Amaya Battle came in rated as the #39 recruit by ESPN and has started the last three games for the Gophers. She leads the team in assists and defensive rebounds. Her best game came against Penn State when she went for 19 points, five rebounds and five assists. Mallory Heyer has also been solid as a true freshman. She has scored in double figures five times, including 18 points and 11 rebounds against Penn State. She was also 3/3 from behind the arc against Kentucky.

It's an intriguing starting lineup because they each have the ability score in double figures and while Mara Braun is a #1 option, they can all contribute equally. Each starter has had at least four games in double figures, while Alanna Micheaux leads the way with seven games of 10+ points.

Off the bench, it’s a trio of transfers and one returning player. Maggie Czinano averages 15.7 minutes, 5.3 points and 3.6 rebounds. Cleveland State transfer Isabelle Gradwell, Arkansas transfer Destinee Oberg and Nebraska transfer Mi’Cole Cayton have all appeared in all nine games this season. They combine to average 8.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.

2pt FG: Iowa 6th (57.3%) Minnesota 139th (46.1%)

3pt FG: Iowa 51st (36.0%) Minnesota 98th (33.1%)

3pt Rate: Iowa 65th (39.3%) Minnesota 263rd (28.4%)

TO: Iowa 20th (12.7) Minnesota 208th (17.1)

- Minnesota averages 22.0 turnovers per game in four games against NET Top 100 teams so far this season. Has turned into 78 points (19.5 per gm) in those four games.

Off Pts/100 Possessions: Iowa 17th (111.5) Minnesota 114th (96.3)

Def Pts/100 Possessions: Minnesota 147th (89.0) Iowa 163rd (90.3)

Possessions Per Gm: Minnesota 12th (78.7) Iowa 53rd (75.7)

Off Rebounding: Minnesota 127th (33.0%) Iowa 317th (25.0%)

Def Rebounding: Iowa 1st (80.5%) Minnesota 102nd (70.9%)

Much like the recent match-up against Wisconsin, you have to take last year’s results and throw them out the window. The Gophers are an entirely different team and are playing at a higher level than last season. They like to go at a high pace and get up a lot of shots, which plays into the hands of the Hawkeyes because they like going up tempo too.

If Minnesota plans to make things really interesting, they are going to have to put together a performance that they haven’t done yet. That would mean limiting turnovers below the 22.0 per game they average against teams in the NET Top 100. Iowa will be the best team the Gophers have faced to this point, which will be a new challenge for a young team.

WarrenNolan.com projects Iowa to win 90-66. Minnesota can put the ball in the basket, and they have several 3pt shooters that can cause issues for the Hawkeye defense. This game does have a trap game feel with Iowa coming off of a big rivalry win and finals week on the horizon. Think the Gophers keep it close for a bit and there will be times where they look good against Iowa, but other times where their youth shows. Lisa Bluder’s squad will take advantage of those moments. If this team stays together, they will be very good in a couple of years. Just not good enough tonight. IOWA 92 MINNESOTA 70


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