Iowa Hawkeyes vs Northwestern Wildcats Prediction, 1/17/2021 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Iowa Hawkeyes vs Northwestern Wildcats

Date: Sunday, January 17, 2021

Location: Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, IL

TV: CBS

Odds/Point Spread: Iowa (-8.5)

The Northwestern Wildcats (6-5) play the Iowa Hawkeyes (11-2) at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Sunday. Iowa opens this contest as 8.5-point favorites. The total has been set at 158.

Iowa enters this one with a record of 11-2 for the campaign. They are averaging 91.9 points per outing (3rd in the nation) on 48.8% from the field. The Hawkeyes are hitting 39.3% on shots beyond the perimeter (136 of 346) and 72.5% from the free throw line. As a team, Iowa is snagging 41.6 boards per game and has accumulated 277 dimes so far this year, which has them ranked 1st in college hoops in terms of passing the ball. They are giving up possession 10.1 times per game and as a basketball team are committing 14.6 fouls every game. Defensively, the Hawkeyes are forcing 14.1 turnovers every game and they draw 19.5 personal fouls. The Hawkeyes defense is giving up a shooting percentage of 41.2% (355 of 862) and they surrender 37.9 rebounds per game as a squad. They are currently ranked 337th in college basketball in allowing assists to the opposition with 216 relinquished on the season. They give up 34.9% on 3-point attempts while they are 244th in D-1 in opponents PPG (73.2).

The Iowa Hawkeyes played the Minnesota Golden Gophers and notched a win by a score of 86-71 in their last game. Iowa finished the game having earned a 55.4% FG percentage (31 of 56) and made 9 out of their 14 3-point shots. At the charity stripe, the Hawkeyes knocked down 15 of 21 tries for a percentage of 71.4%. In the matter of hauling in rebounds, they earned 39 with 4 of them being of the offensive sort. They also recorded 27 assists for the matchup as well as having 3 steals and 2 rejections. When it comes to the defense, Iowa allowed the other team to go 55.4% from the floor on 31 of 56 shooting. Minnesota earned 15 dimes and had 7 steals for the game. Furthurmore, the Golden Gophers had 34 rebounds (11 offensive, 23 defensive) and added 2 rejections. Minnesota went 68.8% from the free throw line by burying 11 of 16 shots. They converted 10 out of their 34 attempts from downtown.

Luka Garza is one player who was a factor in this game. He was able to score 33 points on 13 of 20 shooting. He played for 34 minutes and also grabbed 5 rebounds. Garza finished shooting 65.0% from the floor and totaled 3 assists. Another guy that was a major contributor in this contest for the Hawkeyes was Joe Wieskamp. He grabbed 6 boards and also had 2 dimes. He finished shooting 77.8% from the field in the game by connecting on 7-of-9 (20 points). Overall, Wieskamp saw the court for 36 minutes.

Northwestern has a record of 6-5 for the season. The Wildcats are committing 16.8 personal fouls every game and they shoot 74.0% from the charity stripe. They are earning an assist 17.3 times per game (26th in the nation) and they turn it over 10.2 times per game. Northwestern has scored 862 pts for the campaign (78.4 per contest) and they collect 36.4 rebounds per game. On the offensive side of the court, the Wildcats are shooting 45.3% from the floor, which is ranked 139th in college basketball. The Wildcats are ranked 179th in the country in points allowed per contest with 70.0. The Northwestern defense gives up 33.1% on shots from 3-point land (90 of 272) and opponents are making 68.8% of their free throw shots. They concede 15.1 assists and 35.3 boards per contest, ranking them 290th and 189th in those defensive categories. They are forcing their opponents into 12.4 TO's every game and have allowed teams to shoot 41.9% from the floor (129th in D-1).

When they last played, the Northwestern Wildcats took a loss by a final score of 81-71 when they played the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Wildcats earned 25 defensive boards and 6 offensive rebounds for a total of 31 for the contest. They stuffed 2 attempts while recording 5 steals for this game. The Buckeyes were called for 18 personal fouls for this game which took the Wildcats to the free throw line for a total of 21 shots. They were able to knock down 15 of the free throws for a percentage of 71.4%. When it comes to shots from beyond the arc, Northwestern converted 6 of their 23 tries (26.1%). When the game finished, the Wildcats went 25 out of 63 from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 39.7%. The Wildcats permitted the Buckeyes to convert 27 of their 54 tries from the field which had them at 50.0% for this contest. They finished the game shooting 40.0% from three-point range by going 10 of 25 and walked away from this one shooting 17 out of 25 from the free throw line (68.0%). When talking about cleaning up the glass, Northwestern allowed Ohio State to grab 37 in total (4 on the offensive side).

Chase Audige was important for the Wildcats in this matchup. He converted 11 of 23 for this contest giving him a rate of 47.8%, which gave him 25 points. Audige snagged 5 boards in his 33 mins and accounted for 2 assists for the game. One more player that ended up playing a role for Northwestern was Miller Kopp. He notched 16 points in his 37 minutes on the court by going 4 of 11 shooting for the contest. Kopp ended the game having shot 36.4% from the floor in addition to collecting 2 assists and 9 boards.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Iowa (-8.5)

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