The term “must win” is tossed around in sports vernacular and oftentimes is more hyperbolic than legitimate. Fans will cite the need for a victory at home or a triumph to snap a losing skid. For Iowa men’s basketball, both these conditions apply for Saturday afternoon’s contest against Washington. But there’s even more weight hanging in the balance for the Hawkeyes, who teeter on the border of Big Ten Tournament qualification, sitting in 15th place as of Friday afternoon.
The Huskies’ 4-11 mark in conference competition puts them in 17th place in the Big Ten, behind only Penn State, which Iowa narrowly topped by one point at home back in January. That contest featured Hawkeye starting center Owen Freeman, his penultimate game this season before being sidelined with finger surgery. Iowa has gone 1-4 in his absence and now finds a potential spot in the conference tournament hanging in the balance.
“We just look at the next game,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said at media availability Friday. “That’s pretty much how we’ve always done it. That hasn’t changed.”
Outside of a road game against Northwestern, which upset Ohio State by 21 points in Columbus on Thursday night, Washington will mark the only opponent Iowa can expect to beat the rest of the season. ESPN’s matchup predictor gives the Hawkeyes a 77 percent chance of victory. Their next closest is 32 percent at home against Michigan State on March 6.
Washington hired Danny Sprinkle from Utah State following last season and has a 13-13 overall record. As is customary for teams with a new head coach, six of Washington’s seven players in terms of minutes per game are transfers or first years. Senior forward Great Osobar joined Sprinkle from Utah State and leads the Huskies in points (15), rebounds (8.6), assists (3.4), and steals (1.9) per game.
“He’s got a complete skill set,” McCaffery said of Osobar. “But [Washington’s] got a lot of other pieces. They’ve got speed, they’ve got a bunch of different guys that can score.”
Sophomore guard and Portland transfer Tyler Harris contributes 12.4 points per game on 50.6 percent shooting while first-year Zoom Diallo adds 11.3 on 48.3 percent shooting.
Washington ranks bottom-three in the Big Ten in points per game, opponent points per game, and field goal percentage.
Life of a midseason transfer
Former Miami forward Isaiah Johnson-Arigu transferred to Iowa in January and spoke with reporters for the first time Friday. Temperatures outside hovered around 20 degrees, but Johnson-Arigu hails from Minneapolis and welcomed the weather change. He needed a change of scenery, but not because he got tired of beaches and palm trees.
Johnson-Arigu’s head coach for the Hurricanes, Jim Larrañaga, stepped down from the position on Dec. 26 when the team returned from a holiday break.
“The team had no idea he was going to retire,” Johnson-Arigu said.
With the coach that recruited him to the Sunshine State no longer in the picture, Johnson-Arigu opted to enter the portal right away rather than play out his second season. He said other schools reached out, but he always had Iowa on his mind. Hawkeye assistant coach Sherman Dillard recruited him out of Totino-Grace High School and Iowa was his second choice behind Miami.
“I feel like I’m a big fast-break player,” Johnson-Arigu said. “Like, drive and kick to open shooters. I felt like [Iowa] was a perfect fit.”
The 6-foot-7 forward arrived on campus in time for Iowa’s second semester and practices with the team on the scout squad. He’s attended every home game but cannot play until next season. In a span of less than two years, Johnson-Arigu has experienced two different schemes in two contrasting environments.
“I don’t even know how to explain to be honest,” he said. “Like, adjusting to college basketball and then adjusting to Miami culture is already crazy enough.”
McCaffery called Johnson-Arigu’s decision to transfer midseason “difficult but admirable.” He said the three-star prospect still has to learn new terminology, but added that being around the team and witnessing its preparation will be beneficial come June.
Johnson-Arigu is one of several new faces potentially on the court in 2025-26. Iowa landed verbal commitments from four-star small forward Joshua Lewis and three-star center Dezmon Briscoe. These two players cannot officially sign with Iowa until April.