Few Big Ten teams have been colder than Indiana recently. They have dropped three in a row and six of their previous eight. Their 18 point loss on the road at Purdue was embarrassing for a program that has dominated this rivalry in recent years, making their ability to come back from that one an important note heading into the Iowa game.
Additionally, forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea was arrested over the weekend and suspended indefinitely following a DUI. It’s hard to say that his actions depict the overall attitude and general carelessness of this program. But, his suspension combines with their recent play could force this team to refocus in this game.
Some advanced metric systems believe the Hawkeyes should be about 5-6 point favorites for this game. Odds makers initially pushed a number in line with 4.5, but that quickly moved down to three, an indication of the potential for a tight on in Bloomington on Tuesday night.
The best aspect of this match-up for the Hoosiers relates to the fact that they have the interior athletes and overall rebounding prowess to neutralize Iowa’s best strengths. Not the the Hawkeye guards are necessarily a weakness, but this team gets its offensive mojo from what they do at and around the basket, save for Roy Devyn Marble’s versatile offensive skill set.
The loss of Mosquera-Perea further minimizes the Indiana back court, and this is a game where his presence would have come in handy given the absurd front court depth possessed by these Hawkeyes. Still, the hoosiers have the bigs to contend and neutralize here.
Iowa loves to run and gun and Indiana will have little trouble obliging. The Indiana defense in general has been a definite strong point this season. While Indiana has been very turnover prone, this Iowa team isn’t great at forcing them.
Tom Crean’s club has earned outright wins in each of their last two games as home underdogs. They seem to perform well in that role and also catch Iowa in a good situational spot as the Hawkeyes have a rematch with Wisconsin on deck for Saturday afternoon, giving this game serious lookahead potential.
Given Indiana’s recent struggles, its likely that Iowa will command a strong public following in this one. If you like Indiana as much as me, you might be better off waiting it out. My intention is to make a small play on the Hoosiers now with the possibility of adding more should the number grow to 3.5 or 4.
Indiana +3
