Wow.
How the tides have turned here. Iowa was looking strong coming into this game after coming off a dominating 72-57 win over Indiana last Saturday, but on Wednesday, the school announced the dismissal of star guard Pierre Pierce, who scored 25 points in the Hawkeyes' win over the Hoosiers.
MSU is coming off a tough 81-68 loss to No. 1 Illinois on Tuesday, which was MSU's first home loss of the season.
The Spartans were in a similar position two weeks ago going into Minnesota for a similarly tough road game.
Guards
Pierce had been running wild over teams, averaging 17.8 points per game, but since his dismissal, someone will have to come in and pick up the slack.
Mike Henderson or Carlton Reed will step into the backcourt in place of Pierce, but conditioning could be an issue considering neither averages 15 minutes per game.
Like MSU, Iowa starts three guards and none should present matchup problems for the Spartans.
Jeff Horner mans the point and has dished out 114 dimes, but, without Pierce, who picked up his fair share of assists, the Hawkeyes might have a problem passing the ball if MSU can force the ball out of Horner's hands.
Senior Chris Hill, junior Maurice Ager and sophomore Shannon Brown man the backcourt for MSU, and the Spartans will need a solid performance out of two of the three in order to be successful.
With the dismissal of Pierce, the Hawkeyes will have a tough time containing the Spartans guards.
Advantage: MSU
Forwards
Senior Alan Anderson decided to step outside and drop in a couple 3-pointers against Illinois, which could be a deadly combination for the Spartans, as he will be able to draw Greg Brunner to the outside and that will impact Iowa's rebounding, as Brunner averages 8.2 rebounds per game.
Brunner is an inside-outside threat and can step out and hit the three, but not at that great of a percentage. He still, though, averages 13.9 points per game, which is now tops on the team because of the dismissal of Pierce.
Advantage: Even
Centers
Junior Paul Davis looked slow against Illinois, obviously still hampered by his ankle injury, but was on fire in the first half before looking fatigued and missing several shots badly in the second half. With several days off before this game, hopefully Davis's ankle will have had time to fully heal.
Iowa's Erek Hansen is sort of an enigma. He's 6-foot-11, only 210 pounds but has more blocked shots than everyone on MSU combined. The thing is, though, he brings in fewer than three rebounds a game. What's up with that?
Hansen easily gets in foul trouble (he's fouled out three times this year and leads the team in personal fouls) but his shot blocking really makes up for all of that. The only way that Hansen could have an advantage here is if Davis' ankle isn't fully healed.
Advantage: MSU
Bench
The bench obviously is MSU's strong point and with Pierce gone, Iowa goes down to only three regular players on the bench. MSU has a plethora of players available for use. Junior Matt Trannon has been a catalyst and senior Kelvin Torbert has been dependable as usual.
Nobody off Iowa's bench averages more than five points a game, which leaves a lot of pressure on the starters to produce.
Advantage: MSU
Intangibles
When game time rolls around, Iowa will not have played a game in a week and has to be rattled from losing its best player so suddenly.
MSU, on the other hand, is coming off a loss to the best team in the country in a game that they, had they shot and defended better, had every chance of winning. It will be interesting to see who responds better to adversity here. I'll bank on MSU.
Advantage: MSU
Coaching
Tom Izzo is the class of Big Ten coaches and MSU dominated Iowa last year, 89-72 at Breslin Center. This will be a critical bounce back game for MSU and Izzo will show up and outcoach Steve Alford in this one.
Advantage: MSU
