Justin VanLaere takes a look at Iowa’s upcoming basketball game vs. Virginia Tech in the Big Ten / ACC Challenge in this edition of the VanLaere Vlog.

** To clarify the end of the video in regards to talent, here’s what I meant to say (this time without fumbling over my words):  Virginia Tech has the better athletes and the better individual players, while Iowa has its talent spread out amongst more players.  If Virginia Tech were to lose Delaney or Allen, they’d be in deep trouble, whereas with Iowa, losing one or two players (except for depth purposes) wouldn’t hurt them as much.

Virginia Tech (4-1) at Iowa (2-4)
Dec. 1, 2009 • 8:35 p.m. (CST)
Iowa City, IA • Carver-Hawkeye Arena
TV: ESPN2 (HD)

Tickets are $20 for adults, $5 for youths 18-and-under, while UI students are free.

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS:
IOWA – Payne, Tucker, Gatens, Cougill, Cole
VIRGINIA TECH – Delaney, Hudson, Allen, Bell, Davila

Virginia Tech leads the series 1-0 (Last Meeting, Virginia Tech, 69-65, Nov. 29, 2006)

IOWA PLAYER NOTES/STATS:

• Matt Gatens has more double-digit scoring games than Anthony Tucker, Jarryd Cole, and Aaron Fuller combined.
• Anthony Tucker had 4 or more 3 pointers in 6 of his first 10 games as a Hawkeye.  He hasn’t had one since (10 game span).
• Devan Bawinkle is leading the team in 3 pt % (min 15 attempts) at a paltry 31.6%.  Iowa’s bigs (Cole and Cougill) are combined 4-12 (33.3%).
• Aaron Fuller should be available for this game, as he is recovering from an ankle injury.

NOTES ON VIRGINIA TECH:

Pomeroy ratings in parenthesis ()
The Hokies had to go to overtime last time out to beat Delaware (302) by 8. They lost a couple nights ago to Temple (64) by 11.
They started out 3-0, beat Brown (231) by 14, NC Greensboro (266) by 13, and Campbell (247) by 11.
Iowa (207) will be their 2nd toughest team this year – and it will be on the road.
Opponents of Virginia Tech are shooting < 30% from 3 pt range.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

If it wasn’t for a lackluster performance for Iowa vs. NCCU, I’d have no problem picking Iowa over VT.  However, there was something left to be desired last time out for Iowa.  This game is very winnable for the Hawkeyes, though.

Tags: Hawkeye Basketball, Justin VanLaere, prediction, Preview, VanLaere Vlog, Video