Tag: Luka Garza

Ohio State basketball trails Iowa at halftime after sloppy start

Ohio State came out of the gate slow and fell down big to Iowa early. It headed to the locker room down by eleven.

A troubling pattern is emerging for the Ohio State basketball team. Once again, it went on the road and struggled early with ball security, defense, and toughness. The team has been far different at home than away from it, and it happened again during the first half of the contest at Iowa.

The Hawkeyes came out with hot shooting, and more emotion than the Buckeyes and raced out to a double-digit lead. The margin got as wide as eighteen points. If there’s good news though, Ohio State started to play better and got the deficit down to eight points just before halftime, before giving up a three to go into the locker room down by eleven at 46-35.

E.J. Liddell has kept Ohio State in the game, having his best half of basketball in a Buckeye uniform. He leads the team with eleven points on 5 of 7 shooting, and also has three rebounds. The next highest scorer for Ohio State is Kyle Young with six points. Kaleb Wesson has just four points — making just 2 of his 7 shots.

Offense wasn’t a problem for Iowa. The Hawkeyes shot 62.1 percent from the field, led by Luka Garza’s 17 points. He’s been a beast underneath and nearly unstoppable. The 6-11, 260 lb. big man has made 7 of 9 shots, 2 of 4 from beyond the arc.

Now Ohio State has the daunting task of trying to reel in a very good Iowa team after expending so much energy just getting back in the game. We’ll see if it’s up to the task in the next twenty minutes.

 

Ohio State vs. Iowa basketball: 5 keys for a Buckeye victory

Ohio State travels to Iowa Thursday night to take on a ranked Iowa team. It won’t be easy, but here’s three keys to a victory.

This is going to be a tough one for the Ohio State basketball team. Iowa is a team that can go inside or outside and can score in bunches. The home crowd at home will be all lathered up as well and will give the Hawkeyes an emotional boost with OSU coming to town.

Both teams are ranked in the top 25, but we don’t have to tell you how hard it is to win on the road in the Big Ten, especially against a ranked team the caliber of what the Buckeyes will see Thursday night.

But as daunting as it may seem to win in Iowa City, it’s not impossible. Penn State was able to get the job done, and so was Depaul and San Diego State earlier in the year.

Here’s five things Ohio State must do in order to spoil the night of the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Next … Slow and steady

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Ohio State at Iowa 2020 basketball preview, prediction, and odds

Ohio State hits the road to take on a very good Iowa team. Here’s a preview, prediction, and odds for the Big Ten matchup.

Records

Ohio State 17-8 (7-7), Purdue 18-8 (9-6)

Broadcast, TV, Game Time

Date: Thursday, February 20
Game Time: 7:00 PM
Venue: Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, IA
Network: ESPN

The Ohio State basketball team seems to have righted the ship a bit after having an issue keeping up with any New Year’s Resolutions in January. After winning five of the last six, it now hits the road to take on a very talented Iowa team that likes to get up and down the court.

It’s another road game in the Big Ten, and getting a win away from home hasn’t been easy for anyone in the league. It’ll be no different here. The Buckeyes must bring their best game to have any shot of pulling off what would be considered an upset.

A win would be huge and would get Ohio State over .500 in the league for the first time since early December. A loss, and there’s still some work to do in a very difficult conference.

Odds via BetMGM. Access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Thursday at 2:00 p.m. ET. 

Next … The Ohio State game plan

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Three Iowa players Badger fans need to know

Wisconsin heads to Iowa City to take on the No. 17 Iowa Hawkeyes. Badger fans should be sure to know these three opposing players.

After getting blown out in its last two road games, Wisconsin (12-8) will look to reverse that trend on Monday evening in Iowa City against No. 19 Iowa (14-5).

To put it mildly, that will not be an easy task.

Carver-Hawkeye Arena has a well-deserved reputation as one of the toughest places to win on the road in the country, and Fran McCaffery’s Hawkeyes are arguably the Big Ten’s hottest team at the moment, having won four straight and eight of their last ten. That stretch includes victories over No. 12 Maryland, No. 19 Michigan, and No. 24 Rutgers, all of which came in Iowa City.

While Iowa was expected to be a solid team this season, I’m not sure anyone thought they would be this good, especially once one of its top players, senior guard Jordan Bohannon, opted to shut down his season after playing in ten games to undergo hip surgery. The loss of Bohannon’s leadership and productivity (career scoring average of 12.3 points per game, 39.8 percent three-point shooter) could have been devastating.

Instead, the Hawkeyes have managed to thrive in his absence, thanks in large part to the emergence of one of his teammates into a full-fledged superstar and a few others stepping up to the plate and taking on larger roles.

With that said, here are three players in Iowa’s rotation who Badger fans should make sure to keep an eye on in this matchup.

Luka Garza – Center

Current stats: 23.2 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 1.7 bpg, 56.1 FG%, 38.5 3P%

Jan 4, 2020; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes center Luka Garza (55) shoots the ball over Penn State Nittany Lions forward John Harrar (21) during the first half at The Palestra. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Garza was certainly one of the Big Ten’s better big men throughout his first two years at Iowa, but the 6-11, 260-pounder from Washington D.C. has taken a quantum leap in his third season.

The junior center’s production has absolutely exploded in 2019-20, to the point where he has launched  himself into  the conversation for National Player of the Year honors. Garza leads the Big Ten and ranks No. 5 nationally in scoring average, with the conference’s No. 3 field goal percentage. He also cleans up on the glass, currently sitting second in rebounds per game.

A multi-dimensional offensive threat who dominates the paint and can stretch the floor from beyond the arc, Garza has been straight-up unguardable at times for the Hawkeyes. He has scored in double figures in all but one game, a stretch that has included some jaw-dropping performances: Garza dropped 44 points (17-32 from the floor) in Iowa’s loss to Michigan in December and 34 (13-19) to go along with 12 rebounds in an 89-86 defeat to Penn State earlier this month.

Garza is coming off of another monster outing the last time out against Rutgers in which he racked up 28 points on 11-17 shooting to go along with 13 boards.

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Luka Garza will be a load for Wisconsin to handle

More on Luka Garza

Given that the Wisconsin Badgers do not have a superstar player on their roster, it is clear that when Greg Gard’s team takes the floor on Monday evening against the Iowa Hawkeyes, it will not have the best player on the court. Iowa will.

There is an elite basketball player other than Doncic in this country who has a first name of Luka. In this case, we are referring to Luka Garza of Iowa, the double-double machine who has made a credible argument for National Player of the Year honors.

How many other players can boast averages of 23 points and 10 rebounds, a double-double unto itself? How many other players have collected 11 double-doubles before the end of January? How many other players produce unrelenting tidal waves of energy? Garza is a special player, and while Nate Reuvers has been one of Wisconsin’s better players this season, he isn’t in Luka Garza’s weight class. That isn’t a commentary on Reuvers; it is more a reflection of how much Garza has evolved at Iowa. What is more striking, though, is that Wisconsin doesn’t have a dynamic player elsewhere on its roster — at another position — which can easily neutralize the advantage Garza gives Iowa in the paint.

Wisconsin always has to win games as a team, meaning that the Badgers have to rely on their cohesive defense, with every player participating in every facet of competition. Garza’s prowess, however, magnifies the need for Wisconsin to make its five-as-one identity a defining feature on Monday. Garza is likely to get his numbers. Wisconsin has to make Garza a lonely figure for the Hawkeyes, making him work for everything while the Badgers shut down every other Iowa player and turn this game into a 1-on-5 affair.

Preventing Luka Garza from stuffing the stat sheet is an unreasonable expectation for Wisconsin. Preventing Luka Garza from making his Iowa teammates more effective is the reasonable and necessary goal the Badgers must achieve in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.