Syracuse Basketball: Iowa Hawkeyes crystal ball predictions

Joe Arrigo, contributor (5-2)

Last week was a rough week in New York City for the Syracuse basketball team, to say the least. The Orange were blown out by Oklahoma State and Penn State, two teams that were certainly a step up in competitions, but are not teams the Orange should be destroyed by.

Elijah Hughes has been playing very well, but the Orange will need much more from other players if they want to beat quality opponents. Now Syracuse will welcome in the Iowa Hawkeyes, a team that is loaded with talent and experience.

Iowa is led by Luka Garza, a center who is averaging 19 points and 10 rebounds a game. Garza was a big part of the Iowa team that made it to the round of 32 and was very close to beating Tennessee and advancing to the Sweet 16.

Garza has a bunch of players on their team that make the right plays and have very good fundamentals. Jordan Bohannon and Connor McCaffery are guys that will make 3’s when open, and it looks like they will have some chances to make an impact on this game because of the 2-3 zone.

I believe that Iowa will have success on offense, but I’m not sure if they can guard Elijah Hughes and his counterparts. I think this game will be high scoring because of the efficiency of Iowa and the fact that Syracuse will be playing at home.

When it comes down to a winner, I see it as a coin flip. If Syracuse plays with some fire after what happened last week, I think Syracuse will win, but it wouldn’t shock me if the Orange got blown out. I’ll take Syracuse to win a nail biter, but my confidence is very low in this pick.

Final Score
Syracuse 81 Iowa 78