Before every Ohio State men’s basketball game, Connor Lemons gets you ready for that day’s action with key stats, players to know, and prevalent storylines for that day’s game on the “Good Hoops Morning” podcast.

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No. 9 Iowa Hawkeyes vs. No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes (-1.5, total points 139.5)| KenPom predicts: Iowa by 1

Game Date/Time: Thursday, Mar. 12, at 12:00 p.m. ET
Location: Chicago, IL
TV: BTN
Radio: 97.1 FM/ 971thefan.com

The Ohio State men’s basketball team (20-11, 12-8) rides a three-game winning streak into the Big Ten Tournament, where it will square off with one of the two teams that beat the 8th-seeded Buckeyes by at least 15 points this season. Iowa (21-11, 10-10) is the 9-seed in the Big Ten Tournament, earning a third round game with the Buckeyes by beating 17-seed Maryland on Wednesday afternoon, 75-64.

Iowa beat Ohio State 74-57 back on February 25 in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes got 22 points from First Team All-Big Ten honoree Bennett Stirtz on 8-for-11 shooting. As a team, Iowa shot 22-for-29 (75.9%) from two-point range, and led by as much as 23 during the second half.

Since that loss, Ohio State has rattled off three consecutive wins over Purdue, Penn State, and Indiana. The Buckeyes are averaging 89 points per game during the win streak and won those three games by an average margin of 17.7 points.

The winner of this game will advance to play top-seeded Michigan on Friday at Noon (ET).

Connor’s prediction: Iowa 68, Ohio State 67

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Twitter: @lemons_connor

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