Maryland escaped a scare Wednesday at home, as they outlasted the Penn State Nittany Lions, 64-58, in large part to Dez Well's impressive 23 points and Jon Graham's 16 points against his former team. Maryland bounced back from an embarrassing 24-point loss against Ohio State with a solid team win, improving to 19-4 and staying in second place in the Big Ten. Melo Trimble has struggled of late, shooting a combined 0-13 from the field in the last two games, but looked to distribute the ball against Penn State and recorded eight assists.
Iowa is coming off a blowout win against a struggling Michigan team, but lost their previous three games before taking on the Wolverines (albeit two were to Wisconsin). Iowa is led by senior Aaron White, who poses a threat to score every time he touches the ball. White is averaging 15 points per contest but only one other Hawkeye, Jarrod Uthoff, is averaging double-digits. Iowa has decent size and can rebound at an incredibly high rate on the offensive end, so Damonte Dodd and Graham are likely to have their hands full all game.
How to watch, listen, and stream
Game time: 3:15 p.m. ET
TV: BTN
Terrapin Sports Radio Network and live audio available here.
Online streaming: BTN2GO
The numbers
Rankings and records: Maryland is 19-4 and ranked No. 17 in the AP Poll and No. 16 in the Coaches Poll. Iowa is 14-8 and 5-4 in conference play.
KenPom's prediction: Iowa, 69-65 and a 66 percent chance Iowa wins.
Two things at stake
This is a great chance for Maryland to rebound from their slight slump and regain the confidence and rhythm they played with earlier in the season.
Iowa has a chance to record a big win over a ranked team to boost their postseason résumé. The Big Ten is loaded with teams on the bubble for the tournament so Iowa needs to do something to set them apart from the group.
One big matchup
Jake Layman vs. Aaron White. This will be one of the more interesting matchups for Layman this season. Layman certainly has the edge in athleticism, but White always finds a way to put the ball in the bucket. Layman has had a breakout season this year by adding his driving threat so it'll be interesting to see how he attacks the lane against a slower opponent. Both are proven rebounders as well, so whoever owns the matchup in this one could see their team on the positive side of the win column.
Further reading
Check out our preview and Mark Turgeon's birthday festivities.