Maryland (11-8, 3-5) vs. Iowa (11-7, 3-4)
When & where: Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024 | 7 PM EST | Carver-Hawkeye Arena
TV: BTN — Kevin Kugler, Stephen Bardo
Radio: 105.7 FM (Baltimore) | 980 AM (DC) | SiriusXM channel 386
Betting odds: Maryland +5 | O/U: 151.5 (DraftKings)
Maryland’s last win came ten days ago on the road as head coach Kevin Willard looks for his team to bounce back against Iowa on Wednesday night. Iowa has won the last four matchups with the Terps’ last win in Iowa City back on Feb. 19, 2019 after Bruno Fernando’s putback with 7.8 seconds gave them a one-point win.
After winning three of their first four games to start 2024, Iowa will look to bounce back after losing at home vs. Purdue on Saturday, 84-70, in already their second matchup this season. Iowa will look to move to 9-2 at home this season, where they’ve been drastically better this season with a nearly 30-point swing in scoring margin compared to their away games.
Valpo transfer Ben Krikke leads the Big Ten’s top-scoring offense with 16.5 ppg while shooting nearly 59% from the field and is one of four Hawkeyes entering Wednesday averaging double figures. Tony Perkins dropped 24 points in the loss vs. second-ranked Purdue, his fourth 20-point game of the season, while reserve guard Tony Perkins became the sixth Hawkeye to score at least 20 points in a game this season after scoring a career-high 21 points against Minnesota last week. A big reason for the number of scoring options within its halfcourt offense stems from Iowa’s ball movement, ranking among the nation’s best in assists (19.7) and leading the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.99).
While Iowa’s success has seemed to hinge on whether they’re playing inside the Carver-Hawkeye Arena or not, Maryland will look to get back on track after dropping its last two games. Maryland mounted a near-comeback against Michigan St. before a turnover on the game’s final possession handed the Terps their fifth loss in a one-possession game this season.
“He faked me out a little bit. I thought he was going to shoot it,” head coach Kevin Willard said on his weekly radio show on Monday. “That’s why we didn’t call a timeout. You got the ball in your best hand’s shooter. He was on the right side. He’s great off the dribble with his right hand.”
The second half of Sunday’s game marked arguably the first time that Jahmir Young had shown signs of fatigue this season, but it’s hard to argue why that’s been the case. The fifth-year guard has poured in two 30-point performances over his last eight games, averaging over 25 points during that stretch. He’s been even better on the road, averaging over 30 points per game, but whether the rest of the team can maximize its potential away from College Park has been the question for Maryland.
Donta Scott and Julian Reese have both scored in double figures in four of the last five games, but aside from the veteran trio, the results have been sparse. While Maryland leads the conference in points allowed in Big Ten games (66.1), the Terps’ woeful shooting has only been magnified by the turnover issues that plagued the team through the first half of the season. Maryland will look to replicate what it did the last time on the road: finish with single-digit turnovers. Since the Big Ten opener back on Dec. 1, Maryland is averaging over 11 turnovers per game and are coming off a season-high 18.
“Their effort’s been great. We’ve had really bad turnovers and untimely turnovers and it’s just not one person. It’s been everybody,” head coach Kevin Willard said after Sunday’s loss. “We have some guys that are at times trying to make a play when they’re trying to make something happen, which I like and it’s a learning process, even for the older guys. You’re always kind of evolving. You’re always kind of learning.”
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