As it is with any sport, college basketball is all about matchups. While Ben McCollum has himself a tournament team over there in Iowa City, his Iowa Hawkeyes are no match for the juggernaut Dusty May leads in Ann Arbor. It is all about pace, as Iowa plays at a speed that would make Tony Bennett Virginia Cavaliers teams feel impatient. They have attempted the 348th most field goals this season.
Conversely, Iowa ranks second in the nation in the fewest field-goal attempts allowed. They make you earn every bucket. However, Iowa's slow tempo plays into exactly what the Michigan Wolverines want them to do under May. Iowa being ranked 359th in tempo results in 87 percent of their shots coming in half-court sets. Michigan's defense holds its opponents to 34.8-percent shooting in the half court.
Add in that Michigan just might be the best team in the Big Ten right now, and this could be quite problematic for Iowa. While Iowa does make 35.5 percent of its 3-point attempts, what if it cannot knock down its shots vs. Michigan? The fact every rebound is so precious for Iowa because of the lethargic pace in which the Hawkeyes plays under McCollum could make this one ugly very quickly.
If Michigan gets out to an early lead, Iowa will not be able to catch them, as May can rest his starters.
Michigan is a complete and utter matchup nightmare for sluggish Iowa
One of the beautiful parts of college basketball is there are multiple ways to win a game. You can win with pace like Georgia does, just like you can win by slowing it down as Iowa has. A team can win with finesse from beyond the arc like Nebraska is doing, just as easily as Michigan can bloody it up in the paint. There is more than one way to do these sort of things. Michigan just has a massive advantage.
The crazy part in all this is Michigan could potentially cake walk to an effortless Quad 1 win if it takes care of the basketball and knocks down its shots vs. Iowa. However, if it is just not Michigan's night for whatever reason, this could go down as a soul-crushingly painful loss for the Wolverines. Thankfully, this does not seem like it is going to happen. Iowa can only play one way, while Michigan is versatile.
Although the outcome of Thursday's game in Iowa City may not impact Michigan's standing as a likely No. 1 seed, it could do wonders for Iowa getting on the good side of the bracket. The Hawkeyes are very much a No. 9 seed, but one that is trending down with a 20-9 overall mark and a 10-8 record vs. the Big Ten. Michigan may have a pair of losses on the season, but a third is not coming to Iowa here.
The only way that could happen is if the Hawkeyes home crowd gets into it early and flips the game.