BIRMINGHAM, Ala. − One of the biggest talking points during Wednesday’s NCAA Tournament press sessions was the home-court advantages of top-seeded South Alabama and ninth-seeded Auburn. Midwest series.
Auburn’s situation was particularly in the spotlight, given that a lower-seeded team is scheduled to play a de facto home game against eighth-seeded Iowa at 5:50 p.m. CT Thursday (TNT)… and possibly against top-seeded Houston (TNT). if these teams advance) Saturday.
One of the fun rivalry topics here has been whether Alabama fans (watching their team play earlier Thursday against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) will sell their tickets for the evening to Auburn fans…or stay nearby to put down roots. against the Tigers.
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“I guess they’ll find a way to get tickets,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said confidently. “I know it’s been really difficult. My phone picked up. And I had to say no to a lot of friends and a lot of people who wanted to get tickets, because they’re hard to find.”
Alabama fans knew they’d probably be playing here for a while; Auburn’s selection to Birmingham was more of a surprise. The dynamic would have been similar in Des Moines, with Iowa fans scrambling to buy tickets from Kansas fans, for example.
The Hawkeyes’ shooting difficulties on the road are well documented, so wouldn’t a road-style game be a disadvantage? Iowa players had very good responses to the potential advantage of Auburn, whose campus is two hours away.
“We play in harsh road environments all year round. I’m not very impressed, and I’m not very worried,” Iowa junior Patrick McCaffery said. “Auburn had no control over where they went. We would have been really excited if it was in Des Moines. Same thing. They had no control over it. It’s like that. We’re excited to have the opportunity to play and do what we can to be successful here.
Oddsmakers have Auburn (20-12) as a 1-point favorite over Iowa (19-13).
“They’re going to have a lot of fans there,” said Kris Murray, who was named to the AP All-American third team Wednesday. “But we’re excited that they included us in the NCAA tournament and gave us a spot to play.”
Speaking of the Hawkeyes’ 3-point shooting…
As mentioned, Iowa’s 28.2% 3-point accuracy on the road (compared to 38.6% at home) remains a lingering problem. And given Iowa’s three-game struggles with a Wilson basketball — the same one used in the NCAA tournament — additional preparations were made.
With Wilson, Iowa shot 3 of 24 from 3 at Northwestern, 3 of 28 at Wisconsin and 4 of 17 in an opening loss to Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament. (That’s a collective 14.5% accuracy. Ouch.)
“(Managers) kind of pumped up the balloons getting ready for the NCAA tournament,” Iowa sophomore Payton Sandfort said. “We tried to make it not a big deal, and now it’s second nature to do it.”
Hawkeye players were clearly frustrated with the ball and tight rims during Wednesday’s open practice, but publicly took the right approach.
“Both teams use the same ball. It is what it is,” McCaffery said. “I try not to panic about the ball. We already have enough worries. »
Staying on the topic of 3-pointers, how do you combat Auburn’s excellent 3-point shooting defense? Continue shooting for 3 seconds? Or drive the basketball?
Responses have been mixed in the Hawkeye locker room, but basically they’re going to wait and see how Auburn defends. Iowa expects to see a lot of face defense on the perimeter.
“They put a lot of pressure on the ball. We can try to take advantage of it,” said young goalkeeper Tony Perkins. “They definitely contest a lot of shots, so we can try to fake it and get to the line, get some quick free throws.”
Added senior Connor McCaffery: “I feel like we have to stay with our game. We have to take open shots.” You don’t want to pass up open 3s just because they make for good 3-point shooting defense. There were games we watched on (Auburn) film where (opponents) just didn’t make them.
No doubt, the 3-point percentages will be in the spotlight on Thursday on both sides. At 31.4%, Auburn is one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the country (No. 314 nationally).
Special match for Bruce Pearl and Matt Gatens
The pearl is a concentrate of energy. And he’s beloved at Auburn, which gave him a “lifetime” contract as men’s basketball coach last January. At nearly $5.5 million per year, he is the fifth-highest paid college basketball coach.
Still, he recalled his six years as an Iowa assistant fondly on Wednesday. These were the glory years of Hawkeye hoops, the mid-to-late 1980s. The Elite Eight run in 1987 was brought up, but Pearl also reflected on other Iowa coaching icons from that era – Hayden Fry, Barry Alvarez (“he was just a linebackers coach then,” Pearl noted) and C. Vivian Stringer.
“I hope that in some way the Iowa fan base will look at me as I’ve progressed in my career at different places and say, ‘Hey, he was one of us ‘” Pearl said. “…We had an excellent run. »
One of the topics Pearl discussed was first-year Iowa assistant coach Matt Gatens. Gatens worked for two seasons under Pearl, assisting with travel, scouting and filming practices. He turned that role into a four-year, full-time job at Drake, and now Gatens is coaching where he played and grew up in Iowa City.
“The key was working with me for a little while, and I managed to not drive him out of the company,” Pearl said. “Iowa is where he belongs.”
Pearl joked that he changed the names of his out-of-bounds plays with Gatens on the opposing sideline. Gatens chuckled at that.
But it’s true, Gatens has an important role in Thursday’s result. Head coach Fran McCaffery gave him the Auburn scouting report. If Iowa wins, Sherman Dillard will have Houston’s recruiter. Naturally, Gatens is in the spotlight on many levels.
“They want to force turnovers,” Gatens said. “So we have to take care of the ball, rebound the ball and run a good offense. We will be ready.
“I prefer to be behind the scenes and help the guys. But it’s a unique connection. It’s pretty special to face your old team and your old boss.
Joe Toussaint reunites with his former Iowa teammates
After the NCAA Tournament brackets were released Sunday night, Connor McCaffery and his former Hawkeye teammate Joe Toussaint immediately connected — quizzing each other on their respective first-round opponents.
Toussaint and ninth-seeded West Virginia will face eighth-seeded Maryland here in a South Region game Thursday morning. The Hawkeyes defeated Maryland, 81-67, on January 15. Likewise, McCaffery searched for information on Auburn — an opponent West Virginia defeated, 80-77, on Jan. 28.
“Connor, he literally told me everything about Maryland,” Toussaint said. “And I told him about Auburn.”
How is Auburn playing?
“Very gritty. Athletic. Very good defensively,” said Toussaint. “Their adults are very good. Their guards are cunning.
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Toussaint’s departure late last March was a surprise to Iowa fans and even Fran McCaffery. He had been benched mid-season in favor of Perkins in the starting lineup, and his role had diminished. Starting 41 games over three years at Iowa – including 20 as a true freshman – he wanted to play a bigger role in a “change of scenery,” as he described it.
Toussaint leaves the bench for West Virginia. He averages 9.5 points and 2.7 assists in 21.6 minutes per game. He averaged 4.3 points, 3.2 assists and 17.1 minutes during his junior year at Iowa. Toussaint said he still follows Hawkeyes games and regularly stays in touch with his ex-teammates, especially his good friend Patrick McCaffery.
“I wanted to expand my role. It’s not that I had a big problem with my role at Iowa, I just knew what I could do,” Toussaint said. “I wanted to show the world what I could do and (coach Bob Huggins) gave me a chance to do that here.
“There is no bad blood between me and Iowa or anyone in this state.”
Dasonte Bowen tries to stay positive
One of the benefits of the locker rooms being open at the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 is having the opportunity to talk to players who rarely play. That would be the case for Dasonte Bowen, a freshman point guard from the Boston area who began the season in a competition with Ahron Ulis for the starting role, but transitioned from rotational bench player to just bench player.
Bowen scored 12 points against Duke on December 6. But he’s played just 22 minutes with a basket since Jan. 15 as Fran McCaffery tightened his base rotation to seven players plus the use of spots for eighth man Josh Dix.
Bowen said he was looking forward to next season, without suggesting he was a disgruntled transfer prospect. He will likely get a fresh start after the departure of several key veteran players.
“I’m still doing the same thing they hired me to do,” Bowen said. “Staying aggressive and playing defense, getting shots for myself and others. I just stay alert and wait for my number to be called.
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has covered sports for 28 years with The Des Moines Register, USA TODAY and the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Follow @ChadLeistikow on Twitter.
