Assistant coach Billy Taylor will be calling the shots for Iowa when the Hawkeyes host Minnesota in a Big Ten Conference matchup on Sunday afternoon at Iowa City, Iowa.
Taylor, who has previous Division I head coaching experience at Lehigh and Ball State, steps up after head coach Fran McCaffery tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.
Iowa (14-7, 4-6 Big Ten) had its game scheduled for Thursday at No. 16 Ohio State postponed because of inclement weather in the Midwest.
The Hawkeyes, who have lost three of their last four games, last played on Monday, suffering a 90-86 double-overtime loss at Penn State. The Hawkeyes were outrebounded, 53-43, and outscored 44-28 in the paint.
“You know, we had our chances. I thought we mixed defenses, we had different guys step up at different times,” McCaffrey said. “We didn’t shoot it great. We got a little screwed up when we were trying to switch on that last one with a three-point lead, and they ghosted it.
Minnesota (11-8, 2-8) has lost three straight since a 68-65 victory over Rutgers on Jan. 22. The Golden Gophers have lost seven of their last eight overall.
Iowa has won four of the last five games vs. Minnesota and seven of the last eight at home. Eight of the last 12 meetings have been decided by seven points or fewer.
Keegan Murray is fourth in the nation in scoring at 22.3 points per game and leads the Hawkeyes with 8.3 rebounds. Iowa is sixth nationally in scoring offense at 82.8.
Patrick McCaffery averages 11.1 points, Kris Murray 10.5 and Jordan Bohannon 10.0.
Iowa is first in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.82), third in fewest turnovers per game (8.9) and third in turnover margin (6.0).
Minnesota, coming off an 88-73 loss at No. 4 Purdue on Wednesday, is led by Jamison Battle, who averages 17.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. He has scored in double figures in 18 games. Payton Willis averages 16.7 points, and E.J. Stephens 11.3. Center Eric Curry (8.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg) returned in late January after missing three games with an ankle injury.
“We have eight losses and all eight have been to top-30 teams,” Minnesota coach Ben Johnson said. “Now the challenge is going to be to use every lesson that we’ve learned from these losses to now try to snowball it into wins and become stronger in the month of February.”
–Field Level Media
