Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - The Iowa basketball team could be making lineup changes plus an analysis of how the Hawks would matchup with Ohio State
Episode Date: February 3, 2022Despite the postponement, we are continuing our regularly scheduled content with a crossover episode with Jay Stephens of Locked On Buckeyes to discuss the Iowa basketball team and the Ohio State bask...etball team. How do these two teams match up and who would guard two of the nation's best players in Keagan Murray and EJ Lidell? Plus, we discuss what each team needs to improve on over the rest of the season.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.GetUpsideJust download the FREE GetUpside App and use promo code SCORE to get 25 cents per gallon or more cash back on your first tank. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.
Welcome back Hawkeye Nation to a Thursday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes
podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Podcast Network.
As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, excited to be back for another episode today.
And while this episode will continue to go on today, it's going to be a little bit different.
We had a crossover episode with Jay Stevens of the Locked On Buckeyes podcast, breaking
down the game tonight, Iowa versus Ohio State.
However, that game has been postponed, yet we're going to continue with that piece of the conversation
because we talked about a lot of things that are important
regardless of the game being played tonight.
What to expect from Iowa.
How do you defend Iowa?
What has been going on with their offense?
And what are some of the key players to watch in any given game?
That is all being covered on today's crossover episode
with Jay Stephens of the Lock locked on Buckeyes podcast.
And on tomorrow's episode,
we're gonna be breaking down Kirk Ferentz's news conference.
So be on the lookout for that.
But first,
before we get into the show,
I want to thank you all for making the locked on Hawkeyes podcast.
Your first listen every single day,
you can find the locked on Hawkeyes podcast for free,
wherever you get podcast at,
and also on YouTube by searching locked on Hawkeyes.
With that being said,
let's turn our attention to our conversation with Jay Stevens of the Locked On Buckeyes podcast right now.
Buckeye fans and Hawkeye fans, there's a big game tonight and this is the place to be to get ready for it.
I am Jay Stevens, the host of Locked On Buckeyes.
And with me is Andrew Wade, the host of Locked On Hawkeyes.
We were talking off air about this game, a little bit about Iowa, a little bit about Ohio State.
And we're going to unveil what we talked about and then a lot a little bit about Iowa a little bit about Ohio State and we're going
to unveil what we talked about and then a whole lot more here for you Andrew it's cold here in
the Midwest it's about to start snowing not looking forward to it but there's a big game
and I hope it's there's a lot of big play on the court tonight how you doing man you ready for the
game tonight uh I'm doing well yeah am I ready for the game no um iowa basketball has been very uh
frustrating to me lately and so i'm trying to take away the fan aspect of it so i don't get
so emotionally invested and just cover it from a media perspective uh it'll be fun if iowa wins
if i will lose it's what i was expecting to be completely honest um iowa has not beaten any teams
that they shouldn't beat that's right they haven't beaten any teams that they shouldn't beat.
Did I say that right?
They haven't beaten a single team they shouldn't beat.
Yeah.
And they've beaten most teams they should beat,
and they've lost to a couple teams they should have beat.
So it's been a weird season, man.
And I'm actually in Denver.
I don't know if you actually knew that, but I'm actually in Denver.
But we have seven inches of snow on the ground right now,
so it is also cold as hell here, which is not ideal.
But, yeah, man, I'm ready for Big Ten basketball.
I'm not looking forward to tonight's game, though.
You're kind of killing the mood because I am in Indiana, and we're about to get, I think, a foot of snow over the next couple days, maybe about a 24-hour span.
I hope the game does not get snowed out the weather's like hey we're not playing the game because i'm looking forward to the game because i want to see how ohio state bounces back after their last second
loss to purdue jay knifey is just a different type of player i'm glad he's not playing in tonight's
game against ohio state because it could be the same result once again you went a little bit into
what what iowa's season has been ohio state they are good, but they're not fully healthy. They're
good, but the rotation has been changing game by game. And I don't know. I mean, we're into
February, and I still don't know who's going to be the starting five for tonight's game.
It's kind of one of those things where Chris Holtman's kind of just going with the flow.
Whatever happens, whatever the team or the opponent dictates, that's what we're going to do.
whatever the team or the opponent dictates.
That's what we're going to do.
That can be good.
That can be bad. You guys don't have Jay Nivey, but Iowa does have Keegan Murray.
I think his name is Keegan Murray.
Yep, Keegan Murray.
Excuse me.
And that's one guy that if you don't have him ready to –
if you're not ready to guard him, it could be a long day for you.
Yeah, I mean, Iowa's such a weird team.
They have another national player of the year candidate Kanda, again in Keegan Murray.
They have his brother, who no one talks about, Chris Murray,
who when he has an opportunity is arguably the second best player on the team.
We have three guys who are 6'8 and can guard the 1 through 4,
if not the 1 through 5.
Keegan Murray has played center at times.
Yet we're trash on defense.
We are inconsistent on offense. the best three-point shooter
in the history of the big 10 can't hit a freaking shot to save his life right now
and we just lost to Penn State on the road so I do apologize for killing the vibe here but
I don't have a vibe I'm just unhappy um this has been it's only been two games but we lost three
out of the last four we lost to Rutgers on a last second game or last second shot,
which is unfortunate.
I would argue the officiating in the Big Ten is one of the worst I've ever seen
this year.
Should never have been a foul call there.
But regardless, I digress.
We beat Penn State.
Thank God.
It was on a Saturday, and Carver was packed and sold out.
So I'm going to give some bonus points to just the fans.
We lose to Purdue.
Honestly, it was never really close. We made it kind of close halfway through the second
half, but it was really never close. Anytime we got close, Purdue's like, oh, we'll just have
another guy hit a three. No big deal. And then Penn State, that was just a nasty game. It was
just a gross game. Iowa should, I mean, people want to blame the officiating. Iowa shouldn't
have let it become, like get down to that. we shouldn't have had to have a miracle last second tip in by keegan murray to make it to overtime uh we should have
fouled in the set of the first overtime i mean it's just bad thing after bad thing man uh and
i'm not sure what team's gonna show up iowa has not done well on the road um they have let me look
at it they only have two road wins this whole year one was against Minnesota, and I think it's really important to call out
that that Minnesota team had seven scholarship players available.
They were missing like three starters.
They were playing a couple walk-ons,
and they were absolutely gassed halfway through that game.
So I think that's really important to call out.
And Virginia.
And Virginia is not yesterday's or last year's Virginia.
This is a bad Virginia basketball team, and it took a lot to beat that team.
Those are our only two road wins, and we just lost to Penn State on the road.
We lost to Rutgers on the road.
We lost to Iowa State on the road.
I mean, it's just – we're not good on the road, man,
and Ohio State's a solid basketball team, so I'm scared.
Yeah, you kind of killed the vibe there,
but I think Ohio State fans will love everything you just said
about how this game might go.
I do know, though, Ohio State, I can rip Ohio State, go crazy on them.
They're 13-5.
One of the downfalls for this team was not their fault.
They got hit by the COVID bug and had to have three, missed three games in a row.
I believe it was a 22-day hiatus in between games.
And so it took a little bit of time to get their feet wet,
get their legs back under them, get their wind once again,
because when you're going from playing basketball,
then you're stopping, and you can't even do a 5-on-5 or 4-on-4,
even a 3-on-3 scrimmage, you're losing your wind as well.
All the wind sprints, all the running, all things you can do,
that can't compensate for what game speed, what game wind,
game conditioning is.
They're slowly getting that back, and I do think against Purdue,
they did get down 20, but you started to see this Ohio State team can fight.
They believe in themselves.
When the shots start clicking, their defense starts getting better,
and we saw that with Ohio State on this past Saturday.
Ohio State did play Wisconsin.
This one was in Ohio State, at Ohio State, the first time they played.
And Jordan Davis did his thing.
He did kind of get loose a little bit.
But Ohio State and EJ Liddell and the rest of the team,
they were just too much firepower for Wisconsin.
Now, I don't know what to expect tonight.
I keep saying that, and I just don't know what to expect tonight. I keep saying that,
and I just don't know. If Keegan Murray goes off, sorry, bye. It could be one of those games.
Ohio State misses shots. A three-point shot has not been falling lately. Justin Arns, who's
supposed to be one of the better shooters in the country, can't hit nothing. I think he hit one
three against Purdue. He missed a lot previously before that. I just don't know, but it could be one of those games.
If Murray gets hot, it could be all Iowa needs to win this matchup.
Yeah, and when I look at it, I mean, Iowa does match up well
with Ohio State in this matchup because you look at the size-wise,
there's not a size advantage for Ohio State going up against Iowa.
Iowa plays a lot of small ball.
So does Ohio State.
I think the tallest guy I saw on your roster was six foot eight from like a, an active playing time perspective. Iowa has
Phillip Abracha six foot nine, who's technically our center, but he's really honestly a stretch
for like, that's really what he should be playing. That's what his true role should be.
So in this game, that makes sense when this is going to be a good opportunity for him to go up,
go up against EJ Liddell in this game. I'm curious, so you mentioned Keegan Murray.
Keegan Murray is going to be a huge factor in this game.
Keegan Murray struggled a lot at the beginning of that Penn State game,
but one of the things I've been really impressed about is even when he goes 0-6,
0-8, 0-9, he finds a way to keep this team in the game.
Against Penn State, in a one-minute sequence,
he drains a three to keep it within two points.
He goes over down the court, blocks the shot,
then goes back down the court.
Jordan Bohannon airballs a three,
and Keegan Murray goes underneath the rim
and taps it in for the two to get us into overtime.
I mean, that was an amazing one-minute sequence
after what could arguably be a really bad game for Keegan Murray.
So you always have to be on the lookout for him.
My question to you is, how do you guard Keegan Murray?
Because when I look at Ohio State,
you have some size that could be bodying up on Keegan,
but Keegan's going to be a bit more athletic than those guys.
So how do you handle a Keegan Murray?
This could be one of the better matchups for him in Big Ten play.
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Let's turn our attention back to our conversation with Jay right now.
There's one or two things that I do believe Chris Holman will do.
He kind of showed it against the last game against Purdue.
And I think he's kind of training this way with his second unit.
First off, Malachi Branhamham he is a true freshman he's what he started off against Jordan Davis the first time when Ohio State hosted Wisconsin Davis got the better of him a couple times down the
court and the next thing you know Chris Holtman's like look you could get me twice you're not gonna
get me three four or five times in a row made a quick switch and it was a great switch at that
time so it could be Malachi brandham i'm kind of skeptical
about putting a true freshman against a guy as that's as lethal as murray is but he's been
starting he's been playing really good basketball on both ends of the court and i do think that's
where we're going to start second off the bench is probably going to be eugene brown a little bit
more of a um i think it's like six'6", 6'7", sturdy frame.
I do think that's like a secret weapon.
Not so much a secret weapon anymore because Brown's been getting more playing time,
but that's one of those weapons that Chris Holtman can utilize in this game.
Say Branham gets into early foul trouble, don't bring in Justin Arns.
If Mechie Johnson doesn't start, I wouldn't bring in Mechie Johnson either.
I'm bringing in Eugene Brown for this matchup.
This is me.
Now, Chris Holtman may go another way, and I think if he goes another way,
I honestly think it would be stupid to go down that road.
I think that you've got to have Branham and then Eugene Brown, and those are the only two guys that you have guard Murray in this game.
That makes sense to me.
And I think the other thing you have to watch out for is Iowa also has Keegan's brother,
right?
Chris, I think it's wrong to call him Keegan's brother because Chris in his own right is
going to be a star player.
I feel like he's doing everything that Keegan did last year, but this year, and he is a
better shooter than Keegan, which I think people aren't realizing as well.
Chris is our best shooter on the team right now and has the ability to take over a game offensively. I would like to see him
get more involved on the glass and in other aspects of the game, but Chris is another solid
player. Then you add in Patrick McCaffrey who can go coast to coast and when he's paying attention
on defense, he can be a really amazing defender. I mean, there were times against Penn State where
he kind of just got caught watching and all of a sudden his guy is just running right behind him like this is not going to end well and then he just kind of jogged
over to him like didn't really do a lot but those three guys all six foot eight all athletic all
can guard again that one through five spot those are going to be interesting matchups I'm curious
how have you have you seen teams match up on EJ Liddell how have they guarded EJ Liddell to me
he's kind of been more of a I'm not I don't mean to to hate on EJ Liddell how have they guarded EJ Liddell uh to me he's kind of been more of a
I'm not I don't mean to to hate on EJ Liddell he's a fantastic player but he's not your traditional
four or five right I mean he's he's really undersized and not exactly overly quick so I'm
just curious like how do teams match up on it and what makes him so effective let's just go back to
the most recent game because I do think um Matt Panter had a good game plan.
And he actually had a guy that was a good build in Mason Gillis.
Mason Gillis was locked up with EJ Liddell most of the game.
It was one of those battles where Mason Gillis is 6'6".
I want to say he might be 220, maybe 220, just by just looking at a physical frame.
And that may be the kind of guy that you need because Liddell will want to take Biggs out to the three-point line,
either dribble drive, mid-range,
or even just pop a shot right in their face at the three-point line.
Well, you can't do that against Mason Gillis.
He's quicker.
You can't really body him.
And that's the type of player that you need to have against Liddell
because if you have a 6'10", 250, slow foot big man in the Big Ten,
Liddell's going to destroy him all day. If you have a guy that's, say, 6'4", 200 pounds,
Liddell's 6'6", 240. He's going to kill you and destroy you all day long. Now,
you may be quicker at 6'4", 200, but Liddell has the body and the size.
at 6'4", 200, but Liddell has the body and the size.
The one thing with this team, though, that I do think can – you can slow down Liddell a little bit more and create turnovers
is well-timed double teams.
And I'm not just saying well-timed double teams as far as the timing of it,
but I want to couple that also with where the double team is coming from.
Ohio State's been a bad three-point shooting team.
I mean, bad lately. People – I was watching one broadcast. I'm like, oh, Ohio State's shooting good from three.
I'm like, what team have you been watching? They can hit the three occasionally, but this is not
a team where you're going to say, yeah, they're going to kill you from three. You need to watch
it because when you least expect it, they're going to hit five in a row. That's not this team.
And so a well-timed double team, when you get that coming
from the proper angle and from the proper guy, a lot of times Liddell is going to look to throw
to Zed Key. That's not always the best move, especially when they're both going to be inside
from the mid-range to the block area. Sometimes you want to get the guy leaving, let's just say,
a Jamari Wheeler, which is okay because Wheeler's not your traditional three-point shooter.
And so you've got to make sure you know when you're going to double-team,
what angle the double-team's coming from, and what man is going to be the double-teamer.
So that's a lot in a little short period of time.
But I do think that double-team really at times, especially in crunch time,
when things kind of get a little bit more tense,
that's probably going to be the ideal way to slow down Liddell.
The thing is, though, it's hard.
Even against Mason Gillis, he put up 20 points.
And so I'm talking about a guy that did a good job defending him.
Liddell still had 20.
And so he's very, very tough to defend.
And one thing he's done very, very well, a little bit more long-winded answer,
letting the game come to him. There was a time earlier where he was just forcing it and just trying to get his
shots early or trying to force feed it into zed key morally it's more just whatever the defense
is throwing at ohio state liddell's would say hey i am going to just facilitate work this thing
around if i don't get my shots off consistently till the second half he's been fine with that and i do
think that's the formula ohio state needs especially against iowa because if he starts force
feeding shots and if he just starts jacking up shots that are stupid dumb idiotic shots that
might be ohio state's downfall yeah there's a lot of things to unpack with that so i'm gonna i'm
gonna uh start with the first one i can think of off the top of my head.
If EJ Liddell does play that facilitator role and is able to be patient in that facilitator role,
there will be opportunities for the Buckeyes.
Iowa does a great job defensively,
and this is ironic considering I said Iowa is terrible defensively.
They do a great job early on in the shot clock defensively,
but if you stay patient, there will be an open shot at some point on the perimeter.
And you mentioned the fact that Ohio State has struggled.
I just went back through the last couple games shooting 20%, 25%, 15% from three,
but they do have the capability of getting hot at a time.
And if you're giving them wide open looks,
that is going to be difficult for the Iowa Hawkeyes to stop that.
The other piece Iowa has really struggled with,
and it actually looks like Ohio State might be struggling with as well
when you look at the advanced metrics, is rebounding.
The other issue is Iowa does a great job of holding onto teams
for most of the shot clock.
They get a shot off, they miss the rebound, the other team gets it,
they pop off another shot, they score.
I mean, it has been like the story of our lives with Iowa and this defense,
which has been incredibly frustrating.
I think when you mention the fact that they played Mason Gillis on A.J. Liddell, I think perfect.
Iowa has three of those guys, right? Patrick McCaffrey, Keegan Murray, Chris Murray. They do
a great job if they are one-on-one with these guys. Phillip Abracha also might be on him
as well. Phillip Abracha might be a bit of a matchup problem for Brawcha and not for EJ Liddell.
So that'll be interesting to watch that.
What I'll be interested in, though, is if Iowa goes man versus zone against Ohio State.
And if they're playing zone, EJ Liddell has an opportunity to facilitate and work it around the perimeter and get some open looks.
Now, you mentioned the double teams.
I will say Iowa defensively, that has been one of the coolest and best developments of this team.
They are not a – they're really a boom or bust defensive team. They are great at forcing
turnovers in a hurry. We're going to talk about your boy, Tony Perkins, but Tony Perkins has done
a phenomenal job on the defensive end of the basketball court. They do a great job of forcing
turnovers. They do a great job of trapping a half court, having well-timed double teams.
But if the team breaks that double team, all hell breaks loose and it is game over.
So that can be an issue as well for the Iowa Hawkeyes defensively.
Tony Perkins, let's go ahead and start right there once again, because I do think Ohio
State fans will want to know more about Tony Perkins.
I talked about him last year.
Andrew and I did a little show last year previewing the Ohio State-India-Iowa game.
Excuse me.
I'm from Indiana.
Tony Perkins is from Indiana.
And I told Andrew, I want to hear about the guys that are from Indiana
that I watched play basketball in high school.
At the time, it was Jack Nunji.
I think now he's at Xavier.
Tony Perkins is still there.
What can fans expect?
Because we talk about Keegan Murray all the time.
He's going to get a lot of the attention.
I wonder how that defensive matchup is going to be for Ohio State because if Chris Holtman is going to start Jamari Wheeler
and then Justin Arns and then Malachi Branham, that could be a defensive nightmare if he starts
Meechie Johnson and assists Justin Arns. I don't really, I personally don't trust Meechie Johnson
that much on defense. He's young and he plays like he's a young basketball player.
But Tony Perkins, though, what does he provide for Iowa?
And what can Ohio State fans expect when Iowa and Ohio State play?
Yeah, so Tony Perkins really provides a spark defensively.
Offensively, his game is still developing.
And as we kind of talked about before the show,
the issue is I feel like his game doesn't mesh perfectly with how Iowa's offense is typically ran.
And he's not the number one guy when he's on the court.
He's typically not the guy who is expected to take all the shots.
He comes out there and he plays very outstanding defense, but he's just typically not going to be that offensive juggernaut.
He's still working on developing that three-point shot.
He had some nice,
nice games early on in the season,
Illinois and Purdue.
He went three of six from three or three or five from three early on in the
season,
two or two versus North Carolina central.
And then two or five versus Western Michigan and Alabama state.
So we did a little better job of developing the outside shot,
but we haven't seen it nearly as much as of late.
He at least hasn't hit that nearly as
much. And again, I feel like Tony Perkins game is more predicated on driving to the basket and
he's not getting those opportunities to really succeed in that way offensively. But Tony Perkins
is a fun and fantastic player to watch. Defensively, he is so energetic. Iowa at times,
well, last year, at least especially, they would get so pissed off at how lackadaisical
they were playing on defense with their first team.
They would sub everyone out.
Screw it all.
Joey's camp, you're out.
Luka Garza, you're not Luka Garza.
You kind of keep Luka Garza.
But everyone else, you're all out.
And we're putting in our second unit
because they're actually going to play some defense.
And that's what you see with Tony Perkins.
He just does such a good job, a man and in zone on defense.
Anytime you have him on a guy,
that guy's not going to be able to do a lot.
I would like to see his game develop more offensively
and become more of a playmaker
on the offensive side of the ball,
but we're not seeing it as of yet.
And when you look at even the Vance metrics,
it kind of shows that as well.
The last couple of weeks, a 92 offensive rating,
a 71 offensive rating, 87, a zero versus Rutgers,
96 versus Indiana, 36 versus Wisconsin.
94 versus Maryland.
So not exactly your ideal offensive rating,
but I do think it's more of a combination of Iowa's offenses struggling as a whole.
Tony Perkins doesn't really know what his role is in that.
And Frank McCaffrey is also trying to figure out what are these lineups going to look like
because he has his starting point guard, who is chaos in a bottle,
sometimes is fantastic and does a great job running the floor,
other times turns it over like nobody's business, also can't shoot the ball.
You have Jordan Bohannon, the best three-point shooter in the history of the Big Ten,
who has been atrocious lately.
So he's trying to figure out what these lineups look like.
And actually, I just got a notification.
This is kind of an interesting development.
It could probably impact Tony Perkins a little bit.
Fran has said he's not opposed to changing the starting lineup, which I think is very
interesting because that starting lineup has been the exact same the whole year,
barring injury. So that to me, I would think means Jordan Bohannon might come off the bench
or Joe Toussaint comes off the
bench, which means either Aaron Uless comes into the point guard spot or Tony Perkins or Chris
Murray. Now that's where I think it gets really interesting. Do you play the traditional shooting
guard or do you go real tall, six foot eight across the board and you have Chris Murray in
that starter role and then you go a little bit smaller in that backup spot? My guess is you
would play Tony Perkins as that starting guard if you were to make that lineup switch though
i got one little question for you because ohio state is one of the teams that does
post up more often than any other team in the country i think at one point i saw that their
post-up rate was like a 20 at 20 which i thought which i thought was outrageous but when i look
back at the games i don't even i don't even realize it in the moment,
but between Zedke, EJ Liddell, occasionally Kyle Young, Joey Brunk gets sprinkled in.
I think he's averaging six minutes a game, played a lot more against Purdue, but he gets sprinkled in every now and then.
They have guys that they want to go inside to first, quickly, play inside out, more old-school basketball.
First, quickly play inside out more old school basketball.
How will Iowa combat that if Ohio State wants to continue to post up and throw the ball inside?
Yeah, I mean, I think that actually bodes well for Iowa and their zone attack.
So I think when you do that, you're going to have Phillip Abracha down low. Phillip Abracha does a nice job of keeping his base.
He does a nice job.
He's not going to block a lot of shots, but he's not going to make it easy on you, right?
He's always got his hands up, and he's just going to be in your way
consistently. Then the problem is though, you're going to have guys who try to come in and double
team them down low. And if they can be smart and dish it out, that's where you have that issue
with that inside out game. We saw with Luka Garza a lot last year, Luka Garza would get double and
triple teamed. He would find the open guy, three point shooters are going to shoot. They're going
to hit. That could be a problem for Iowa. and we've seen that be a problem in the past.
Travion Williams did a nice job against Purdue in a similar fashion.
He's a nice facilitator from the post.
So if Ohio State is able to do that, that could be a problem for Iowa,
especially if they do do a good job of hitting a few shots early on.
If EJ Liddell can get hot, if Zed Key can get hot, hit a few shots,
you're going to see more double teams come down,
and then you're going to see more of that opening up on the perimeter. It's just going to be
a butterfly effect of bad things
happening for the Iowa defense.
Yeah, I really hope
that Ohio State's shot that
started falling in the second half against
Purdue, I hope that continues
because I do anticipate a lot
more posting up. I think
I do think sometimes of the mental psyche of players,
we're human.
If you don't get the ball early,
it might derail your effort later in the game.
So I wonder if Chris Holtman knows we got to get Zed Key the ball early
just to keep him mentally locked in and engaged.
And then throughout the game, if they go away from him,
so be it, it's just how the game dictates.
So I wonder if the Ohio State shot keeps falling
and Ohio State
wants to keep going the ball to Zed Key and Liddell at the block I mean this could be a 15
point win um for Ohio State I I don't know if it'll be that large of a win I do think Ohio State
does win I don't think that they're going to lose two games in a row especially with the way they
finish that game against Purdue this is kind of one of those games where Iowa had a close game with Penn State
that still baffles me.
And then Ohio State needs to really, really right now remind everybody,
we're not just a team that's going to be number 15 to 20 all year long.
We're going to be a team that nobody wants to play at the end of February
going into March.
This is a great game to do.
So I got Ohio State probably
winning by six to ten points I'm trying to be as realistic and generous as possible um you said
I was going to lose right yeah I would agree with your assessment 100% and I think the best way to
do that I think defensively what Ohio State needs to do i just got another notification conor mcafree is out in this game and conor mcafree um depending on who you talk to uh has very he has a very uh
what divisive figure in iowa basketball um people who look at just stats and look at a shooting and
it's a really bad shoot i don't like the shooting motion but they look at the stats they think
conor mcafree is terrible conor McCaffrey is our best facilitator.
And when a team is playing zone defense against us,
Connor McCaffrey does a really nice job of finding the open guy.
Connor McCaffrey is out.
I think it was the Indiana game.
Or maybe it was Minnesota as well.
They went to a zone defense.
Iowa cannot beat it.
They have not shown they can beat it yet.
Especially when Connor McCaffrey is out. They have no one to facilitate that and get it moving.
They really struggle. It just becomes throwing it around the three-point line with your defenders
right on you all game. No one's able to really create for themselves
in that situation. If I'm Ohio State, I'm going
to the post quick. I'm trying to get a few good looks quick to open that up.
Force Iowa to collapse on you, then shoot the three. On defense. I'm trying to get a few good looks quick to open that up. Force Iowa to collapse on you. Then shoot the
three. On defense, I'm playing
zone all day and making Iowa
try to beat you. Make Iowa
try to beat you. Make Iowa try to hit open three-point
shots. They have been unsuccessful to this point.
Now, again, this starting lineup thing is going to be
really interesting. And Fran
is... He doesn't
say things like that unless he truly is
thinking about it. And this wouldn't surprise me to maybe see Tony Perkins start tomorrow,
which would see Jordan Bohannon coming off the bench,
which I am done trying to guess what gets Jordan Bohannon going.
Like I don't know how – what to expect, but like this is one of those situations
where it wouldn't surprise me Jordan Bohannon coming off the bench
just super pissed off and draining like six threes from like the half-court mark.
Like, ha, ha, ha, I'm back. But also it wouldn't surprise me for him to come off and airball three,
three balls in a row. So it'll be very interesting from an Iowa perspective, but that's how I would
be Iowa if I'm Ohio state. And I think Ohio state does that. I think Ohio state wins this game.
As you said, probably by six to 10, I was going to play aggressive. They're going to play strong
and tough throughout the game. They're not going to give up. So they're going to always be able to keep games close,
but I just,
I don't see how they win this game.
I just don't.
Is Bohan and the kid last year during the,
during the tournament that had the t-shirt that was like talking bad about
the NCAA.
That's the same kid I'm thinking about.
I don't remember the t-shirt,
but he's,
it wouldn't surprise me.
I mean,
he was the kind of the,
the lead person along with Gio Baker from Rut the kind of the the lead uh person along with
geo baker from ruckers uh kind of of spearheading the nil movement okay okay yes i don't know if i
thought it was a t-shirt maybe maybe it wasn't maybe i don't know man this is fun man a little
25 26 minutes we're done fast forward through this whole show i'm looking forward to the game
i'm not gonna lie to you um I want to see Ohio state play.
Well,
I want to see Ohio state build off of that second half performance.
Last 10 minutes of the game against Purdue.
That's what I want.
I'm being selfish.
I don't care,
but I just don't know if what I want or what I think is going to happen
will actually happen to happen Thursday evening against,
against Iowa.
Andrew,
let everybody know where they can follow you on Twitter.
And if they want to follow along with the game,
they might be right on your Twitter feed.
Yeah.
You can follow me at Wade underscore Andrew,
although my Twitter account is currently suspended.
Well, not suspended.
I don't have the authenticator.
I got a new phone.
So I can't log into my actual Twitter account.
So I can only log into my LockedOnHawkeyes Twitter account, which is
LockedOnIowa. You can follow me on either of those.
I also drop a podcast every single day, and I'm
also on YouTube. For Hawkeye fans
out there, I apologize, but I'm going to be
watching this game on a party bus. I'll be down
in Scottsdale for a bachelor party tomorrow.
I have the game. I already had it figured out
how I'm going to stream it on the TV, on the party bus.
If they win, I'll be
really drunk and happy. If they lose, I'll be drunk and try to forget it. Friday morning's episode is going to stream it on the TV, on the party bus. So if they win, I'll be really drunk and happy. And if they lose, I'll be drunk and try to forget it.
So Friday morning's episode is going to be quite interesting for Iowa fans out there,
regardless of what happens in this game.
Jay, I appreciate you having me on, though.
It's always a pleasure, my man.
Yeah, man, no problem at all, guys.
You can follow me on Twitter at JaySteven07.
I will not be on a party bus during the game.
I will be sober.
I'll be relaxed. I'll be relaxed.
I'll be on my couch.
Just trying to make sure that I don't have any outside influences while I'm watching this game.
You're having fun, though.
I'm not going to knock it.
This is just my thought process for when I want to watch Ohio State athletics.
Guys, we're done for the day.
Get ready for the game.
If you're going to party like Andrew, have fun.
If you're going to be relaxed on your couch like me,
have fun there as well. Have food, have drinks,
whatever. Let's just have fun watching this game
tonight. All right, y'all. That does
do it for our show today. I hope you enjoyed that crossover
episode. Just a reminder, we will be back
tomorrow breaking down this game.
Iowa versus Ohio State. It might get out a bit later.
Again, as you probably heard on the conversation with
Jay, if you're still listening, I am
currently, as you're probably listening to this, on my way to Arizona.
I have a bachelor party, so I'll be dropping some content, but just probably need to wake
up first before I can get to all that.
So I appreciate your patience there.
I want to remind you all that you can get some betting information at Locked On Bets
podcast hosted by your boy Q and handicapping expert Lee Sterling of Paramount Sports.
Doing a great job there breaking down three to four games you can bet on at betonline.net.
So be on the lookout for that
every single day,
Monday through Friday.
And again, I appreciate you all
tuning in to today's episode
of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast.
Have a fantastic Thursday.
Stay safe out there.
And as always, let's go Hawks.