Previewing the Hawkeyes matchup against Clemson

The Iowa Hawkeyes (21-12, 10-10) have their dancing shoes again! After missing out on the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two seasons, Ben McCollum and company have them back and facing a stout matchup in the 8-seeded Clemson Tigers (24-10, 12-6).

The Tigers started their conference season on an absolute tear – they raced to a 10-1 ACC record and peaked in the AP Poll at 18th. That’s a pretty fair read on their resume, as their best win during the timeframe was a home win against Miami (FL). The only other tourney teams they had beaten up until that point were SMU and a neutral win against Georgia.

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As their schedule tightened up, the losses piled. They bounced back with a win against Louisville (their best on the season) and little run in the ACC Tournament where they took down Wake Forest and North Carolina before losing to Duke.

Like Iowa their calling card is defense. KenPom ranks them 21st in adjusted defensive efficiency and they’re holding opponents to 66.7 points/game, 29th in the country. As mentioned earlier, much of this is due to their preferred pace of play.

While they don’t have a bell cow like the Hawks, they are incredibly balanced and use a deep bench. 8 guys average about 20 minutes or more per game with KenPom calculating their bench minutes at 37.9%, good for 46th in the country. Each of them averaging 5 or more points/game and are the 28th most experienced team in the country.

However, Carter Wellington, their starting center, won’t be one of them later today as he tore his ACL in their matchup against Wake Forest. At 6’10”, he led the Tigers in rebounding and was their #2 scorer. While the 10.9 points/game is one thing, his defense is another. Though he averaged just shy of 1 block/game, it translated into a 4.7% block percentage (13th in the ACC). He was also nationally ranked by KenPom as a rebounder with an 8.2% offensive rebounding rate and 23.7% on defense.

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Publish date : 2026-03-20 11:43:00

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