The Iowa men’s basketball team received the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. The Hawkeyes will play No. 10 seed Ohio State at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Iowa defeated Ohio State in a 79-77 thriller in the regular season on Feb. 2. Less than two weeks later, Ohio State fired head coach Chris Holtmann. Under interim Jake Diebler, Ohio State has won five of its last six games, including an upset over then-No. 3 Purdue in Columbus. The Buckeyes finished the season 19-12 overall and 9-11 in conference play.
Iowa and Ohio State matched up in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament last season, with the 13th-seeded Buckeyes upsetting the fifth-seeded Hawkeyes, 73-69.
Iowa finished the regular season 18-13, dropping its senior night game on Sunday to Illinois, who earned the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and a double-bye.
The Hawkeyes will need to do some heavy lifting in Minneapolis this week to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. In its most recent update, ESPN listed Iowa as one of the first teams out of the field.
“This is one of the best offensive teams out there, ” Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said following Sunday’s game. “In my opinion, I think Iowa is NCAA worthy and should be in the dance.”
Wednesday, March 13 (First Round)
Game 1 (#12 Maryland vs. #13 Rutgers) – 5:30 p.m. CT (Peacock)
Game 2 (#11 Penn State vs. #14 Michigan) – 25 minutes following Game 1 (Peacock)
Thursday, March 14 (Second Round)
Game 3 (#8 Michigan State vs. #9 Minnesota) – 11 a.m. CT (Big Ten Network)
Game 4 (#5 Wisconsin vs. Game 1 winner) – 25 minutes following Game 3 (Big Ten Network)
Game 5 (#7 Iowa vs. #10 Ohio State ) – 5:30 p.m. CT (Big Ten Network)
Game 6 (#6 Indiana vs. Game 2 winner) – 25 minutes following Game 5 (Big Ten Network)
Friday, March 15 (Quarterfinals)
Game 7 (#1 Purdue vs. Game 3 winner) – 11 a.m. CT (Big Ten Network)
Game 8 (#4 Northwestern vs. Game 4 winner) – 25 minutes following Game 7 (Big Ten Network)
Game 9 (#2 Illinois vs. Game 5 winner) – 5:30 p.m. CT (BTN)
Game 10 (#3 Nebraska vs. Game 6 winner) – 25 minutes following Game 9 (Big Ten Network)
Saturday, March 16 (Semifinals)
Game 11 (Game 7 vs. Game 8 winner) – 12 p.m. CT (CBS)
Game 12 (Game 9 vs. Game 10 winner) – 25 minutes following Game 11 (CBS)
Sunday, March 17 (Championship)
Game 13 (Game 11 vs. Game 12 winner) – 2:30 p.m. CT (CBS)