Syracuse Basketball: Iowa Hawkeyes crystal ball predictions
Ryan Lee, contributor (7-0)
Syracuse basketball will be hosting one of the opening games of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The matchup against the Iowa Hawkeyes will be pitting two teams who have experienced mixed results to begin the 2019-2020 season.
Syracuse’s seventh year in the ACC will give them a chance to get back to over .500 in their annual challenge against a Big Ten opponent. Their record holds at 3-and-3 with wins in their first year against Indiana, a win two seasons ago at home against Maryland and a win at Ohio State last year. Since coming to the ACC Syracuse has had a solid 5-and-3 record against the Big Ten; including an upset of title hopeful Michigan State in the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
Iowa will face Syracuse for the second time in five years with the only other contest coming as the third-place game in the 2014 2K Classic at Madison Square Garden. Chris McCullough and Rakeem Christmas combined for 38 points and 15 rebounds in the 66-63 win.
No members of those 2014-2015 squads remain but Iowa will throw out another talented frontcourt on Tuesday night. They will be led by Luka Garza, a 6-foot-11 junior who leads the Hawkeyes in scoring, 19.6 points per game, rebounding at 10.1, and blocked shots 1.7. All of this production has come while averaging just a shade under 28 minutes per game.
Garza becomes a matchup nightmare as the center has the ability to draw other team’s big man out of the paint with his ability to shoot from distance. The senior is 8-for-17 from deep on the year and had a three-game run already this season where he hit multiple threes in a single contest.
Syracuse’s zone will leave Bourama Sidibe or others down on the block meaning Garza will have to shoot over smaller defenders mostly. The Orange will need to use their speed and athleticism with those defenders to suffocate Garza early and take him out as a threat from the outside but that only eliminates one small part of Iowa’s offense.
The main concern with Iowa and Garza, in particular, is his ability to score inside and rebound because of the effectiveness of the Hawkeyes’ multiple talented guards. Iowa will start four guards alongside Garza. Sophomore Joe Wieskamp will be the biggest of the bunch at 6’6” and 210 pounds.
The four-guard lineup balances out what Garza can do inside and vice versa when Garza steps away from the paint and opens up driving lanes on larger defenders. Hawkeyes with this unorthodox style has lead them to be the ninth-best offense in the nation in adjusted efficiency according to Barttorvik.com.
The Hawkeyes offense can perform against good defensive teams as well. They scored 72 in an impressive win over Texas Tech on Thanksgiving. That total may have been their lowest output of the year but was the best offensive efficiency against the Red Raiders of the season to that point, before Creighton demolished it the next day.
In the end, will Syracuse be able defend multiple points on the perimeter without stretching the zone out so much that it becomes a one-on-one matchup for Garza against Sidibe, Marek Dolezaj or whoever in the middle for the Orange.
If the Orange can get stops can the limit Iowa to one and done on that end or will the Hawkeyes pound them on the boards like fellow Big Ten member Penn State did on Friday. This one can go a hundred different ways but unfortunately, the most likely outcome is:
Iowa 77 Syracuse 69