Back Rutgers To Take Down Hawkeyes

Iowa vs. Rutgers, 6:30 ET

It was a great day for college basketball yesterday with a ton of ranked teams taking the court. We saw some good games, and some really average games, but that's to be expected with so many on the slate. Tonight we don't have nearly as many ranked teams taking the floor, but we do have some juicy matchups that we can enjoy. One that I've got my eye on is the game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. 

Iowa enters this game with a 13-10 record, so obviously not much to be impressed with. The Hawkeyes also have had a really rough time in the Big 10 games this year. They are just 4-8 in conference play at the moment. They are in the midst of their worst stretch of the season as well, losing six of their past seven games. In that span, they've dropped games to USC and UCLA on the road, Minnesota at home, Ohio State on the road, and Purdue and Wisconsin at home. Only two of those losses were by fewer than 10 points. The team has been without forward Owen Freeman for the past few games and that has made an impact on their offensive output as he was leading the team with 16.7 points per game. The good-ish news for them is that they have three other guys averaging 10 or more points per game, and another two players that are contributing eight or more. Iowa is a surprisingly good shooting team, averaging roughly 50% on their field goal attempts and over 40% from long range. The problem is they aren't very good on defense. 

Feb 8, 2025; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes forward Pryce Sandfort (24) shoots the ball against Wisconsin Badgers guard Max Klesmit (11) during the second half at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Rutgers isn't the best team in basketball either, but they do have home court advantage tonight, which is very meaningful in college basketball. For the year, Rutgers is just 12-12 for the season, and they are only 5-8 in the conference. Similiar to the Hawkeyes, they've also struggled lately. They lost four of the past six games, and are just 3-8 over their past 11 games. In those losses, they fell to Indiana on the road, Wisconsin and Purdue at home. They've also dropped games to Penn State on the road, Michigan State and Michigan at home, and then most recently to Maryland on the road. The most surprising win they've had this season was two games ago as they took down Illinois with an 82-73 win. I'm not sure if this was an issue with the Illini overlooking the team, or just a matter of Rutgers being competitive and pulling one out. I will give them credit that in the majority of their losses they've at least been competitive. Purdue is really the only team to beat them by more than 15 points, and most losses have been by fewer than 10. 

Both of these teams have strong offensive talent, but I think the total is a bit high for me to be comfortable playing it. Right now it sits at 161.5 which means they are both going to need to score 75+ points. Both do average that, and both are allowing opponents right around that number, but I'm not confident that they are going to reach it. Instead, I'm taking Rutgers to win this one at -6.5 I think they are the better team, have home court advantage, and are less likely to put up a stinker of a game. It could be close, but Rutgers should pull away. 

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