Iowa Hawkeyes vs Minnesota Golden Gophers Prediction, 12/25/2020 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Iowa Hawkeyes vs Minnesota Golden Gophers

Date: Friday, December 25, 2020

Location: Williams Arena in Minneapolis, MN

TV: BTN

Odds/Point Spread: Iowa (-5.5)

Williams Arena is the venue where and the Minnesota Golden Gophers (7-1) will take on the Iowa Hawkeyes (7-1) on Friday. Minnesota opens this matchup as 5.5-point underdogs. The over/under opens at 163.

Iowa heads into this game with a record of 7-1 on the campaign. They turn it over 9.9 times per game and as a basketball team are committing 14.8 fouls per game. As a unit, Iowa is snagging 41.5 boards per game and has 181 assists for the campaign, which ranks 3rd in the nation in terms of passing. The Hawkeyes are shooting 37.1% on shots from beyond the arc (86 of 232) and 71.4% from the free throw line. They are averaging 95.1 pts per game (2nd in the nation) while connecting on 49.5% from the floor. On defense, the Hawkeyes are forcing 16.3 turnovers every game while drawing 20.8 fouls. They currently rank 307th in college hoops in giving up assists with 127 surrendered for the season. The Hawkeyes defensively are giving up an opponent shooting percentage of 40.6% (217 of 534) and they concede 39.5 boards per contest as a group. They relinquish 33.2% on 3-point shots and they rank 190th in Division 1 in opponents PPG (70.6).

The Iowa Hawkeyes took the court against the Purdue Boilermakers and walked away with a win by a score of 70-55 in their last game. Iowa wrapped up the game having earned a 42.9% FG percentage (24 of 56) and made 12 out of their 34 3-pointers. When they shot from the free throw line, the Hawkeyes knocked down 10 of 14 attempts for a rate of 71.4%. When talking about rebounding, they earned 34 with 9 of them being of the offensive sort. They also dished out 21 assists in this matchup as well as having 6 steals and 4 blocks. In terms of defense, Iowa allowed 42.9% from the field on 24 out of 56 shooting. Purdue earned 17 dimes and had 6 steals in the game. In addition, the Boilermakers had 32 rebounds (8 offensive, 24 defensive) and got 4 blocks. Purdue finished 33.3% at the charity stripe by converting 1 of their 3 tries. They also converted 8 of their 25 attempts from downtown.

Luka Garza is one player who saw a lot of court time in the game. He finished with 22 points on 7 of 14 shooting. He saw the court for 31 minutes and also totaled 9 boards. Garza shot 50.0% from the floor and also distributed 2 dimes. An additional guy that played big minutes in the game for the Hawkeyes was Joe Wieskamp. He totaled 9 rebounds and also tallied 2 assists. He finished the game shooting 46.2% from the floor in the matchup via 6-of-13 (17 points). When the game finished, Wieskamp played 32 min.

Minnesota has a win-loss mark of 7-1 this year. As an offensive unit, the Golden Gophers are connecting on 42.6% from the floor, which ranks 254th in college basketball. Minnesota has 660 pts on the year (82.5 per game) and they collect 38.5 rebounds per game. They are getting an assist 16.3 times per game (61st in the country) and they are giving up possession 11.9 times per contest. The Golden Gophers commit 19.0 personal fouls per game and they go 73.6% from the charity stripe. The Golden Gophers on the defensive side of the court are 248th in D-1 in points given up per game with 73.5. They surrender 14.1 dimes and 40.1 boards per contest, which ranks them 241st and 299th in those categories on the defensive end. The Minnesota defense concedes 31.4% on shots from beyond the perimeter (50 of 159) and opponents are making 71.0% of their foul shots. They are able to force 16.4 TO's per game and allow teams to shoot 42.3% from the floor (178th in college basketball).

When they last stepped on the hardwood, the Minnesota Golden Gophers went home victorious with a score of 90-82 when they faced the Saint Louis Billikens. The Golden Gophers pulled down 27 defensive boards and 5 offensive boards totaling 32 in this matchup. They stuffed 9 shots while getting 6 steals for the game. The Billikens earned 30 fouls in this game which got the Golden Gophers to the charity stripe for 41 shots. They were able to knock down 34 of them for a rate of 82.9%. Concerning three-point attempts, Minnesota converted 10 of their 25 tries (40.0%). When this game wrapped up, the Golden Gophers walked away from this one shooting 23 for 48 from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 47.9%. The Golden Gophers permitted the Billikens to make 34 of 77 attempts from the floor which had them shooting 44.2% in the game. They wrapped up this game 13.3% from distance by going 2 of 15 and walked away from this one shooting 12 of 17 from the free throw line (70.6%). In regard to how they attacked the glass, Minnesota allowed Saint Louis to snag 34 in total (12 on the offensive glass).

Marcus Carr ended up seeing a lot of time on the hardwood for the Golden Gophers in the matchup. He converted 8 of 15 in the matchup giving him a field goal percentage of 53.3%, which had him sitting at 32 points. Carr totaled 3 rebounds in his 40 minutes and added 7 dimes for this contest. One more player that was important for Minnesota was Both Gach. He finished with 11 points in 35 minutes on the hardwood by way of 3 of 6 from the floor in this game. Gach walked away from this one going 50.0% from the field in addition to totaling 2 assists and 8 boards.

So what is Tonights Parlay prediction?

Parlay's Pundit's Pick: Take Minnesota (+5.5) and over 163 points

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