Penn State hits the road Friday night to take on Iowa in a battle of Big Ten basketball teams on the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Nittany Lions are coming off an 80-72 home win against Rutgers on Monday night that snapped a four-game losing streak. The Hawkeyes are in a similar situation, as they’ll look to end a three-game slide in a series they’ve historically dominated at home. Iowa is 20-5 at home against Penn State, with its last home loss in the series coming in 2017.

Iowa is a bit of a glass cannon, simultaneously boasting the Big Ten’s best scoring offense (87.5 points per game) and its worst scoring defense (78.5 points allowed). Penn State basketball has the fourth-ranked scoring offense while allowing the sixth-most points in the conference. On paper, this one could be a barn burner. 

The Hawkeyes are coming off a humbling 72-67 home loss to Minnesota, which entered that game 1-6 in Big Ten play. Before that, Iowa lost a pair of road games against USC and UCLA, both by double digits. The Hawkeyes are desperate for a get-right game, while Penn State looks to build momentum before facing No. 21 Michigan on Monday.

Penn State (13-6, 3-5) at Iowa (12-7, 3-5)

About the Nittany Lions

The importance of guard Ace Baldwin Jr.’s return from a two-game injury absence can’t be understated. In the win against Rutgers on Monday, Baldwin dropped 22 points, including 3-for-7 shooting from 3-point range, eight assists and five steals. As a team, Penn State shot a season-high 46.7 percent from 3-point range and 81.5 percent from the free-throw line. That’s a promising trend against an Iowa side that allows its opponents to shoot 47.55 percent from the field, one of the worst rates in the nation. Penn State will continue to be without guard Puff Johnson, who sustained a hand injury against Michigan State. His loss means the Nittany Lions need to continue playing tight defense and keep games close.

“The fun of being in a close game is figuring out how to help your team win and taking pride in that,” Penn State coach Mike Rhoades said. “We’ve had a lot of close games this year. We won some of them, and there’s some ones we’re disappointed in that we didn’t pull them out. … The rest of the games we play, if we play the right way, we play at a high level, it still might come down to a one-possession game.”

About the Hawkeyes

Penn State is all too familiar with senior forward Payton Sandfort, who posted Iowa’s first triple-double in program history when the teams met last year. He leads a Hawkeye offense that has a lot of weapons, averaging 16.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Sandfort is joined by sophomore forward Owen Freeman, who leads the team with 16.9 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. 

Iowa has the fifth-best field-goal percentage in the nation at 50.54%. It’ll be tough for Penn State to keep the Hawkeyes off the scoreboard, but if Mike Rhoades’ defense can force turnovers and get extra possessions for the offense, that could be a difference-maker. The Nittany Lions rank top 20 in the nation in takeaways per game with 16.11 and also lead the Big Ten with 9.3 steals per game.

How to watch, stream Penn State vs. Iowa basketball

Penn State will take on Iowa at 9 p.m. ET Friday night from Iowa City. FS1 will broadcast the game, which also will be available to stream through the Fox Sports App. Chris Vosters and Nick Bahe will have the call. For the radio broadcast, check out Steve Jones and Dick Jerardi on the Penn State Sports Network.

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Sam Woloson has covered Penn State Athletics for the past three years and is currently the managing editor of The Daily Collegian. His work has also appeared in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Huntingdon Daily News and Rivals. Follow him on X @sam_woloson