What to expect from Iowa vs. Wisconsin

The No. 21 Wisconsin Badgers will celebrate their seniors on Thursday night inside the Kohl Center, but they also hope to take one more step towards a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament with a win against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Iowa (21-8, 10-8 Big Ten) currently sits in sixth place in the Big Ten heading into the final week of conference play, two games back of fourth-place Wisconsin (20-9, 12-6).

Thursday night’s conference contest will also be the final game of Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery’s two-game suspension. Assistant coach Kirk Speraw will assume head coaching duties on Thursday night.

Wisconsin leads the all-time series 84-81, and the Badgers hold a 52-29 advantage in games played in Madison.

Their last meeting

Wisconsin opened up the Big Ten season with a close road 72-66 win inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena against Iowa. Guard D’Mitrik Trice scored a game-high 20 points and shot 4-of-8 from three-point range, while redshirt senior forward Ethan Happ contributed 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists before fouling out.

Since the Wisconsin win ...

...Iowa has gone 15-7, including 10-7 in conference. However, McCaffery’s team currently enters Thursday night’s matchup on a two-game losing streak. On March 2, Rutgers came to Iowa City and handed the Hawkeyes an 86-72 home loss.

Team stats

• Points per game: 79.7 (second in Big Ten)
• Opponents’ points per game: 73.7 (13th in Big Ten)
• Field goal percentage: 46.3 (second in Big Ten)
• Opponent field goal percentage: 44.5 (12th in Big Ten)
• 3-point percentage: 36.7 (fourth in Big Ten)
• Opponent three-point percentage: 32.3
• Free throw percentage: 74.8 (leads Big Ten)
• Assists per game: 15.7 (second in Big Ten)
• Turnovers per game: 12.1
• Steals per game: 6.3
• NCAA NET ranking: 40

Key KenPom.com stats

• Team rank: 40
• Adjusted offensive efficiency: 118.3 (11th in the nation)
• Adjusted defensive efficiency: 102.4 (132nd in the nation)
• Effective field goal percentage (offense): 53.5 (64th in nation)
• Turnover percentage (offense): 17.1 (73rd in nation)
• Offensive rebound percentage (offense): 30.5 (102nd in nation)
• Free throws attempted/Field goals attempted: 44.6 (fourth in nation)
• Block percentage (offense): 7.0 (29th in nation)
• Steal percentage (offense): 9.3 (236th in nation)

Possible Hawkeyes starters

• Junior forward Tyler Cook: 15.8 points per game (T-7th in Big Ten); 8.1 rebounds per game (sixth in Big Ten); 2.4 assists per game; shooting 55.4 percent from the field (sixth in Big Ten)
• Sophomore forward Luka Garza: 12.8 points per game; 4.6 rebounds per game; 1.0 assists per game; shooting 51.5 percent from the field; 81.8 percent from the free throw line (sixth in Big Ten)
• Freshman guard Joe Wieskamp: 11.3 points per game, 5.8 rebounds per game; shooting 49.8 percent from the field; shooting 43.4 percent from three-point range (fifth in Big Ten)
• Junior guard Jordan Bohannon: 11.7 points per game; 2.2 rebounds per game; 3.4 assists per game (T-6th in Big Ten); shooting 39.4 percent from three-point range; 87.3 percent free-throw shooter (second in Big Ten)
• Redshirt junior guard Isaiah Moss: 9.3 points per game; 2.7 rebounds per game; 1.8 assists per game; shooting 43.3 percent from three-point range (sixth in Big Ten); 81.8 percent free throw shooter