Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - INSTANT REACTION: Hawkeye Hoops stays alive with win, women travel to Minnesota

Episode Date: February 28, 2024

Trent Condon returns for an instant reaction podcast after Iowa knocks off Penn State 90-81. A look at the triple double from Payton Sandfort, Patrick McCaffery going over 1000 career points and the potential for the Hawkeyes to get to the NCAA Tournament. Plus some thoughts on the women's basketball team as they travel to Minnesota.  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedIn These days every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. That’s why LinkedIn Jobs helps find the right people for your team, faster and for free. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/lockedoncollege. Terms and conditions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelNew customers, join today and you’ll getONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. eBay MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

Hawkeyes stay alive with a win against Penn State, an instant reaction podcast, a look at the NCAA tournament, and the women prepare for their matchup in Minnesota. All today, Locked on Hawkeyes. You are Locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, welcome in. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day.

We're available wherever you find podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. Make sure you hit the subscribe button when you get there. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Just takes a second and greatly helps us. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Iowa gets it done. A win against Penn State, 90-81 the final, a banked in three at the horn, or this would have been a double-digit win in the grand scheme of things.

Doesn't matter. However, when we're talking about the razor-thin margin for Iowa basketball getting to that 10-point win, important for the NCAA net. In fact, we will get into the tournament resume and take a little bit deeper look into that coming up here in the program today. But let's talk about the game and what we saw as Iowa raced out to an early 17 point lead in the ball

game and just had that feeling. You know, Penn State's had a little bit of tumult here as of late, had a guy that left the program. You had that part of it as their leading scorer, Kane Clary, left the program here a little over a week ago, had that part of it as their leading scorer, Kane Clary. Left the program here a little over a week ago. Had that component. We know Ace Baldwin's an absolute stud. And that played out again last night. But for Iowa to jump out to that lead, everything's clicking.

You see early in the game, Peyton Sanford passing the ball incredibly well. And we will get to Peyton here in just a moment. But a game where they did what they needed to. Not a great Penn State team. A team in year number one of Coach Rhodes and what he's doing there, looking to build the program back up after they finally made a run a year ago, got to the second round of the NCAA tournament. A couple of things, though. 22 assists on 25 made field goals for Iowa.

Eight of 16 from three. We talked about this a ton throughout the course of this season. This is not a great three-point shooting team. You look at the numbers and they are at best middle of the pack in college basketball, a little bit lower than that as it pertains to three-point shooting percentage. But they've been able to win games this year without making a ton of three pointers. And that's a deviation from what they've been at times in the past and really great to see. But sharing the basketball at an incredibly high level, putting 81 up against a good, 91 up against a good defensive team. Really, really impressive on that side of things.

Points in the paint, that's where the domination for Penn State went. And they just couldn't figure it out. After Iowa built that 17-point lead, Penn State gets right back into the game. And they did it, putting their head down, getting to the rim, getting to the free throw line. It was a clunky, slow game, not pretty at times. Baldwin gets going a little bit there in the second half, and also Mitchell. It was really, really good as he was coming in there late in the first half of the game when Penn State got on the comeback trail.

Raekwondis Mitchell, he was the guy getting to the rim and causing some problems late in the first half of the game when Penn State got on the comeback trail, Ray Aquandis Mitchell, he was the guy getting to the rim and causing some problems late in the first half. You're going to be up double digits. He gave up the steal, almost an and one, didn't make the free throw there at the end. But ultimately, Iowa cruises into the halftime locker room. Then Penn State comes out once again, and it was Ace Baldwin getting things going early in the second half. They couldn't stop dribble penetration. They're really struggling.

The one thing that Iowa was getting when Penn State got back in the game, and I believe trimmed it to a two point game at one point was Iowa was getting fouled a lot and they were in the bonus with what, 16 minutes to play in the ball game. They were able to get to the free throw line. And ultimately that was the difference there. We do have to talk about though, of course, Peyton Sanford. In a night where he didn't shoot the ball incredibly well, he still finishes with 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. A triple-double. Okay, a triple-double. You know, as we watch the women's basketball team and what Kaitlyn Clark has become and what she is,

it's kind of old hat, right? I mean, all right, a triple-double. All right, it's cool. It's a number. Is a triple-double better than a player that has 35 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists? No. A player that plays incredibly efficient and doesn't get to those numbers or doesn't get to double digits, but it's a nice round number and something crazy. But if you would have told me going into this game last night that Iowa and, in their men's basketball history, had never had a triple-double, I would have called you absolutely crazy. There's no way that that could be the case. Ultimately, it is.

And for Peyton Sanford to get that mark, a kid that is an absolute try-hard player, you talk about getting the most out of your ability, I think that's absolutely the case with Peyton Sanford. A kid that puts in the work. An Iowan. A guy that grew up a Hawkeye, a kid that wanted to play in Iowa city and has had that opportunity and to see him get that mark and just see what it meant. Now it was a little bit goofy at the end and you can see the celebration that he had, that he got the rebound. Yeah, a little bit, but it feel good for the kid because he is a good kid. And he opened up a little bit the day before in the media availability and just talked about being a Hawkeye, talked about the pressure that's on him. And there's times where he comes back home and comes to Milwaukee and

hanging around into the Boyd Metro and he doesn't want to talk basketball, wants to talk golf, wants to talk other sports, wants to talk other things outside of basketball, yet that's all that it is. And it says identity, but there's more to these guys. And it kind of brought some of that reality that sometimes we forget about or we just miss about these players and what they are. But a really good moment and a great moment for him. Mentioned, you know, didn't shoot the ball real well. Did have a couple of big threes in the second half.

Every time that Penn State would make a little charge, Sanford was there. couple of big threes in the second half. Every time that Penn State would make a little charge, Sanford was there. Ultimately, 18 of 19, though, at the free throw line and helped salt that game away. A triple-double in the first ever in program history. Also, got to bring up Josh Dix. He was elite in the first half. Not so much in the second half. Really some struggles there, but he played an incredibly high level. And on, finally, Patrick McCaffrey gets a couple of free throws late in the game. He has become one of the most reliable free throw shooters that they have on the team. And this goes back to the home game on that Friday night against Ohio State. Here a few weeks back when he hit the free throws late in that game that salted it away.

They need him to make every single one. And he did down the stretch. And that was great to see. And he saw maybe a little bit of confidence build in Patrick. Now, Patrick wasn't great again last night, forcing things, running into some of the same troubles that we've seen from Patrick in the past, dribbling to nowhere, jumping without an idea where he's going with the basketball, those kind of things. But it was overshadowed because Peyton Sanford had just got the triple-double. But for him to get to 1,000 career points,

you could tell that was important to him. And think where we were a decade ago. Thyroid cancer, what he has gone through on and off the floor. It was a really good moment. And a moment for a kid that needs it. A young man that definitely needs that and have some kind of positivity that comes through. And we've seen Patrick at times this year be able to play at a high level and they're going to need it because what sits in front of them here over the next

couple of games is monstrous. These matchups coming up against Northwestern and then fight easy for me to say finishing up. There it is against Illinois at home. Definitely is going to be a difficult task. And Iowa likely has to win both of those games, win at least a game in the Big Ten tournament to feel solid about their tournament chances. But we're going to go the other direction. We're going to take a look at this NCAA resume,

what it will do if they do ultimately get to that spot and are able to do those things. If Iowa wins these final two games, what that's going to mean for them as it pertains to the NCAA tournament and obviously the Big Ten tournament and how the bracket will set up. We'll do that as we continue.

Deep dive into the Iowa NCAA tournament resume. We will also take a look at the women's team as they make their way north to face the Gophers. That's coming up as we continue Locked on Hawkeyes. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. GameTime is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy, and theater events near you. Killer last-minute deals, all-in prices,

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Trent Conant back with you once again on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Your team every day. That's what we do here across the network. So let's get into it. And there is a website where you can punch in what's going to happen the rest of the regular season and all the conferences. Not just the Big Ten, but across the country. Both men's and women's.

Great website. It was put together by an Iowa State guy. We won't hold that against him. But it is bball.notnothing.net. Right. Bball. Basketball. Bball.notnothing.net.

And there you can plug in what's going to happen in the remaining part of the schedule and ultimately what is going to look like the remaining part of the schedule and ultimately what is going to look like for the conference tournaments for all the leagues. So in the Big Ten, we play out this scenario. Iowa wins the final two games, going and being one of the few teams that's been able to beat Northwestern the last couple of years in their building and then beat Illinois at home. If you plug that in and make that happen, you have Iowa then finishing the season, as I get this right, 11-9 in conference play. That moves Iowa up to a number six seed in the NCAA, in the Big Ten tournament. They would be tied in the conference standings with Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan State, a three-way tie there.

And with the round-robin record, it would be Wisconsin, who would be three and one against those three teams that would get the five seed. That means Iowa as the six. Now, I don't think that's a bad thing for Iowa to be on that six line because in this scenario, and the rest of the favorites win the rest of the way, Iowa would get the winner of Penn State, Michigan. Feel good about that game. After that, then in the quarterfinals on Friday, you get Nebraska.

I don't mind that. Then potentially a matchup against Illinois in the semifinals. Now we're cooking with fire here. I mean, we're really talking here, but that's also winning the final two games. And I think Iowa would have a great path of that happening. Let's go the other way. Iowa loses one of these last two. Let's say it's a loss to Northwestern.

In that scenario, Iowa finishes 10 and 10 in the Big Ten. They are the number seven seed. As the number seven seed, they get Ohio State in the first round with Illinois awaiting in the quarterfinals and likely would have to beat Illinois, maybe beat Illinois for the second time in a row in order for that to happen. Obviously do not like that path as much. And then we go the other way and Iowa loses both of these games down the stretch. If that plays out in that fashion, Iowa then drops to the number nine seed, plays in the 8-9 game against Maryland, then has to play Purdue, would have to win that game, then would play Northwestern, Wisconsin, probably have to win that game. You're in the Big Ten championship game in that scenario.

And if you're there, well, let's just win the whole damn thing, right? And play it out in that fashion. So again, that is bball.notnothing.net. That is where you can find all those numbers. Another way to look at the NCAA tournament is Bart Torvik. So this is an analytically-based website, and it also has something called Tourney cast and it lets you know exactly what the team's chances are according to his metrics of making the NCAA tournament right now Iowa has a 17.2 chance of making the NCAA tournament 17.2 all right pretty good you click on team cast and this is where you can plug in what they would do down the stretch. If Iowa wins these last two games, mention again, 17% chance of making the NCAA tournament right now. Before the Big Ten tournament, Iowa wins these final two games.

We hit submit and it plugs out what it would be. Iowa would be in the NCAA tournament in this scenario. And they would jump up and be an NCAA tournament team. in this scenario, and they would jump up and be an NCAA tournament team. Let me find the number here as we scroll through all the different numbers as Iowa would jump up and can't find the number exactly what it would be. But in this scenario, he does have them solidly in the NCAA tournament going to Dayton, 41.5% chance of the time. There it is, making the NCAA tournament by winning their final two games.

Check that, 60.5%. Just throwing a bunch of numbers at you uh they'd be playing ford atlantic how about that in dayton villanova virginia would be your other two games uh other two teams in dayton in the play-in round so that is the way it's set now you can also add the conference tournament and what would happen there so you can play around with the numbers a lot what we do know is iowa's got work to do But you kept yourself alive. And as we will flip the calendar on Friday to March, you would have told me just a few weeks ago this team would still be here, still with a chance. It's a slim chance, but still with a chance. A 17% chance of being an NCAA tournament team, I wouldn't have been able to believe it. And yes, we can lament the losses to Michigan.

We can lament what happened in the game against Maryland. Both of them letting one slip away on the road against Indiana, against Penn State. All those games. We talk about five games there. Heck, even if you just win two of them, boy, you're in really good shape here coming down the stretch. But that's not the case. And you got to play it as it is. Fun stuff out of Iowa basketball.

Now a road trip to Northwestern and difficult difficult circumstances there against the Northwestern team that has been so good this season at home of course had the big win early in the season as Northwestern beat Purdue there but they have beat all comers basically at home this year they have beaten Michigan Penn State Nebraska state illinois in overtime maryland michigan state and of course the win against purdue at home this season also have a win against dayton in the non-conference pretty good one there at home so that's what's on tap for iowa on the men's basketball side peyton sanford congratulations to him and patrick

mcafree need to keep going we saw cricky not on the floor a ton. Owen Freeman still had some issues. Wahab, boy, he is a load inside, isn't he? And he is a veteran guy too. I mean, a guy that's been bouncing around now for five years. Georgetown, Maryland, back to Georgetown, now at Penn State to finish up his career. He's a really good player. Ace Baldwin is too. It is not a deep Penn State team, but to take care of business, that's what you had to do. And Iowa did just that. Iowa women look to do the same as they get ready to face off against Minnesota.

We'll take a look at the matchup against the Gophers as we come back. Talking hoops today. Locked on Hawkeyes. Stay right there. We're back with more in a moment. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Get buckets with your first bet on FanDuel. It's America's number one sportsbook because right now new customers get $150

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Trent Conant back with you one final time on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Women's hoops tonight as Iowa goes to Minnesota. It'll be an 8 o'clock tip-off late night up in the barn in Minnesota. So we have seen this matchup that has gone Iowa's way a bunch recently. And Iowa has played well. A little bit of a maybe disappointing year for the Gophers as they sit at 15-12. I think people thought that they were going to be a tick better this season,

but certainly has not been the case. And we go back to the first game in Iowa City. Kaitlin Clark in that one had 35 points, 10 assists, and 5 rebounds. As we talk about Kaitlin, though, we mentioned that after the win against Illinois over the weekend. Looked a little tired, a little off for her standards. And the standards that we put on her are obviously so incredibly high. And it makes it difficult because she's an elite level player. We expect so much out of her, but she hasn't looked exactly

like the Kaitlyn Clark the last couple of times out. Yeah, she had a triple double, but the shot more than anything is struggling. Is it fatigue? Is it being worn down on the course of the season? The physicality that teams play with, I think that's absolutely impactful. And now it's starting to trend forward, as we talked about with Gabby Marshall. We're running out of time. There's two regular season games left. And I do wonder tonight, if we do see Lisa Bluter and the staff try to get Gabby involved right away in the game.

We know the shot's struggling. And if she's not making shots from the outside, she's not helping out a ton. She's not great off the bounce. The defensive numbers are not at the elite level like some people will lead you to believe. And there are other players that can be more impactful in more different ways than Gabby Marshall. Cynthia Fulter, absolutely one of those. Kyla Fuerbach keeps hitting shots like she did against Illinois. So that'll be something to keep an eye on here tonight, what they do right away trying to get Gabby Marshall involved. We know we're going to get now going to continue from Molly Davis.

She had a great game and a bounce back performance out of her. She played really well against Illinois, and that's another one that they're going to need. And we continue to keep an eye on the post and what they're going to do inside. A lot of different things to watch. It's likely going to be a blowout. Iowa's going to be, obviously, a huge favorite in this game against Minnesota, as the Gophers, even at home, sit in 11th place right now in the Big Ten. Speaking of that, let's go to FanDuel right now and take a peek at the numbers for tonight.

There's also some Kaitlyn Clark numbers out there as well. We'll get to those here in just a moment. But going through the game, Iowa, there it is, favored by 17.5 against Minnesota in the matchup this evening. And well, in the state of Iowa, we are not allowed the individual player props. So those aren't out there. They just have a specific tab and all it has is the Iowa game on there. But if you're outside the state of Iowa and those are available,

might have a little something extra for you over at FanDuel. Looking forward to it tonight. We will break things down in Instant Reaction Podcast on the women's side coming up for you tomorrow on Lockdown Hawkeyes. Football talk, wrestling, there's tons going on. We got you covered. We'll also get ready for the weekend ahead as Iowa faces off against Ole Miss in baseball.

And Iowa needs to bounce back in a big time way. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.