Minnesota vs Iowa Odds and Picks

• Iowa is a 9.5-point home favorite over Minnesota on Sunday in a Big Ten Game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City
• Minnesota beat Iowa 102-95 in overtime on Christmas night
• A look of the odds, lines and spreads for Minnesota-Iowa along with game analysis can be found below

In a rematch of one of the most exciting games of this college basketball season, #16 Minnesota visits #5 Iowa at 2:30pm ET Sunday in a Big Ten game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.

Minnesota beat visiting Iowa 102-95 in overtime Christmas night, but has lost two of three since to fall to 10-3 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten. The Golden Gophers are also 6-6-1 against the spread.

Meanwhile,  Iowa has won three games in a row. The Hawkeyes are 10-2 overall, 4-1 in the conference and 8-4 ATS.

Minnesota vs Iowa Odds

Odds taken Jan. 9 at FanDuel

Iowa Gets Defensive

Iowa leads the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com, but is 77th in adjusted defensive efficiency.

However, the defense made a strong showing Thursday, as Iowa rallied from an early 10-point deficit for an 89-67 road win at Maryland as a 5.5-point favorite.

Maryland took an early 19-9 lead before Iowa responded by scoring 20 straight points. During that stretch, Maryland went 0-for-11 from the field and committed five turnovers while failing to score for almost nine minutes.

⚡ @IowaHoops has stormed back to take the lead with a 12-0 run and this dunk by @keegan3murray. pic.twitter.com/ZbIaZXk9zi

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) January 8, 2021

Senior center Luka Garza again led Iowa with 24 points, going 9-for-14 from the field and 2-for-4  from 3-point range, and hitting all four free throws. He also had seven rebounds and four assists.

At 27.2 points a game, Garza leads the nation in scoring while also averaging 8.9 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots. He is doing this despite garnering plenty of defensive attention as his 7.0 fouls drawn per 40 minutes indicates.

Senior guard Jordan Bohannon added 18 points, giving him 55 in the last three games. Bohannon has also knocked down 15 of 23 shots from long range in that span for 65.2% while lifting his scoring average to 9.8.

Jordan Bohannon had that burner tonight. 🔥

24 points and 6️⃣ threes fell for the @IowaHoops senior, and No. 10 beats No. 19 in Iowa City: pic.twitter.com/4WhIAi8oBp

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) December 30, 2020

Junior Joe Wieskamp is 11 points from reaching for 1,000 for his career but has struggled lately. He has scored in single digits in each of the last two games for a total of 14 points, barely more than his average of 13.8 a game.

Sophomore CJ Frederick is scoring 10.2 points a game and has an outstanding 5.1 turnover rate.

Minnesota’s Road Woes

Minnesota faces a daunting task in winning at Iowa considering the Golden Gophers are 0-3 this season and coming off an 82-57 loss at Michigan on Wednesday night as 7.5-point underdogs. They are 10-0 at Williams Arena.

Michigan held Minnesota to 32% shooting while the Wolverines made 57% of their field goal attempts.

Junior guard Marcus Carr was the only Minnesota player to score in double figures as he had 14 points. However, he shot just 5-for-16 and finished more than seven points below his season average.

Here’s one of Carr’s shots that did fall.

.@GopherMBB got Marcus Carr and they don't. 🤷‍♂️

Jumper so pure: pic.twitter.com/CiTAmN2TZp

— Minnesota on BTN (@MinnesotaOnBTN) January 7, 2021

Carr is now averaging 21.5 points and 5.6 assists. He also has a fine 35.2 assist rate while playing 87.9% of his team’s minutes.

Junior center Liam Robbins has averages of 13.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocked shots but was badly outplayed by Michigan freshman center Hunter Dickinson. Dickinson had 28 points and eight rebounds while Robbins finished with five and four.

Are we gonna talk about how Hunter Dickinson casually has 22 points on 11-of-13 shooting in his first 25 minutes of action tonight? This kid is ridiculous. Dominating in the "battle of the bigs" against reigning B1G Player of the Week Liam Robbins. Michigan with a 19-point edge.

— Clayton Sayfie (@CSayf23) January 7, 2021

Junior guards Both Gath (10.3) and Gabe Kalscheur (10.0) also have double-digit scoring averages.

Instant Classic

Graduate transfer forward Brandon Johnson made eight 3-pointers, including four in overtime, and finished with 26 points and nine rebounds to lead Minnesota in the Christmas thriller.

However, Johnson has just three 3s in the Gophers’ other 11 games.

Carr added 30 points, going 6-of-13 from long distance, and added eight assists. Garza had 32 points and 17 rebounds for Iowa and Fredrick added 23 points.

Even though Minnesota is coming off a clunker, the Golden Gophers have proven they have enough offense to give Iowa trouble and keep things close.

Pick:  Minnesota +9.5 (-112)