#608 ASA TOP PLAY ON Iowa -5 over Michigan State, Saturday at 12 PM ET - The statistical comparison of Iowa’s home vs road games is quite dramatic. They have superb numbers at home and on the road, not so much. At home this season the Hawkeyes are averaging 89 PPG shooting 49% from the field and almost 39% from deep. On the road, they average just 67 PPG on 40% shooting while only making 26% of their shots from the arc. We’re catching Iowa off back to back double digit road losses @ Northwestern & @ Wisconsin so they are hungry for a win here. In those 2 games, the Hawks combined go shoot 6 of 52 (11%) from beyond the 3 point line! Most were uncontested looks that just didn’t go down. Now at home where they shoot very well, we look for those numbers to skyrocket. Michigan State is in a tough spot here in our opinion. They had a rivalry game last weekend @ Michigan and lost by 12 (we were on Michigan). Then on Tuesday, they came home for a very emotional game vs Indiana which was the first home game since the tragic campus shootings. We were on Sparty in that game and they won by 15 points and players and coach Izzo alike were very consumed by the emotion of that game. Now they go on the road facing a desperate Iowa team which will be tough. MSU is just 1-5 SU their last 6 road games with 4 of those 5 losses coming by at least 9 points. For the season they are averaging just 64 PPG on the road while allowing 69 PPG. Remember, they are facing an Iowa team that averages nearly 90 PPG at home and the Hawks have scored at least 80 points in all but 1 conference home game. We’re just not sure the Spartans can keep up in this game. Not only will Iowa shoot well here as they almost always to at home, they should have a solid advantage at the FT line. 18% of Iowa’s points in league play come from the stripe (4th most) while MSU allows 21% of opponents points at the charity stripe (most in the Big 10). These 2 met in late January with the Spartans winning by a final of 63-61 as a 2.5 point favorite. A couple of takeaways from that game…MSU’s largest lead of the game was just 4 points while Iowa held a 10 point lead at one point. Iowa made only 3 of 17 from deep (17%) while Michigan State made 40% of their triples. Iowa also made just 46% of their FT’s and their season average is 74%. Even with all of that, the Hawkeyes had the ball late and missed two 3-pointers in the final 7 seconds which would have won the game. This one sets up very nicely for Iowa to win and cover at home on Saturday.