Hawkeyes Hoops: Tonight’s Matchup in Illinois

The Iowa Hawkeyes men’s basketball team has been ranked in the Associated Press Top 10 throughout the first 10 weeks of the season and tonight‘s game hopes to see the Hawks return to their winning ways.

Coming up short against Indiana on the road last week, the Hawkeyes square off against Illinois tonight hoping to avoid back-to-back losses, something that hasn’t happened yet this season.

Tonight‘s game features two of the Big 10's top scoring threats: Iowa senior Luka Garza, averaging 26.9 points per game, and Illinois junior Ayo Dosunmu who puts up an average of 21.7 per game.

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Iowa has led the Big 10 in scoring each of the last two seasons and ranks second in the country averaging 90.7 points per game.

In their last matchup in Champaign on March 8, 2020, Illinois beat Iowa 78-76.

Tonight the Hawks hope to show what a difference a year makes. The Iowa bench is filled with stars and depth who can quickly rack up the points.

Case in point: Keegan Murray. Coming off the bench he has been one of the team's top contributors in Iowa’s last three road wins. Murray scored a personal best 14 points against Rutgers. He sank 12 points against Maryland and contributed 8 points and 7 rebounds in Iowa’s win against Northwestern. Luka Garza has nicknamed Keegan “Nicholas Baer 2.0.”

Murray and his twin brother, Kris, are legacy Hawkeyes from Cedar Rapids. Their dad is  Kenyon Murray, who played four seasons for Iowa starting back in 1993.

Iowa is ranked #7 this week in the AP Top 25. Illinois is ranked #19. Tonight is the only regular-season game between the two teams this year. Tipoff is at 8:00 p.m. and you can watch it on Fox Sports 1.