No. 15 seed Grand Canyon (17-6) vs. No. 2 seed Iowa (21-8)
NCAA Tournament First Round, Indiana Farmers Coliseum, Indianapolis; Saturday, 5:25 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Grand Canyon is ready to square off against Iowa in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Grand Canyon got past New Mexico State by 18 in its last outing, while Iowa fell to Illinois in its most recent game, 82-71.
LEADING THE CHARGE: Iowa’s Luka Garza has averaged 23.7 points and 8.8 rebounds while Joe Wieskamp has put up 14.7 points and 6.6 rebounds. For the Antelopes, Asbjorn Midtgaard has averaged 14 points and 9.9 rebounds while Jovan Blacksher Jr. has put up 11.9 points and 5.3 assists.
CREATING OFFENSE: Garza has either made or assisted on 43 percent of all Iowa field goals over the last three games. The senior big man has accounted for 27 field goals and seven assists in those games.
UNDEFEATED WHEN: Grand Canyon is a perfect 13-0 when it scores at least 71 points. The Antelopes are 4-6 when scoring any fewer than 71.
ASSIST DISTRIBUTION: The Hawkeyes have recently converted buckets via assists more often than the Antelopes. Iowa has 54 assists on 80 field goals (67.5 percent) across its past three outings while Grand Canyon has assists on 37 of 81 field goals (45.7 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: The Iowa offense has recorded a turnover on only 13.5 percent of its possessions, which is the lowest rate in the country. The Grand Canyon defense has forced opposing teams to turn the ball over on just 17.7 percent of all possessions (ranked 259th among Division I teams).
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