2014 Big Ten Tournament: Examining Iowa lineups vs. Northwestern

By Brendan Stiles

HawkeyeDrive.com

With the Iowa Hawkeyes facing Northwestern in the first round of the 2014 Big Ten Tournament, below is a breakdown of lineups Iowa used against the Wildcats in two games this season with numbers compiled throughout the season by HawkeyeDrive.com. Both games took place in January and both were 26-point victories for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa used 175 different lineups over the course of the 2013-14 regular season and 33 of them were used against Northwestern. Of the 33 lineups, 15 of them produced a plus, 14 of them a minus and four came out as even zeros.

Seven of the 15 plus lineups combined for a +4 or better. Of the 14 minus lineups, only two of them produced worse than a -2, with both of those lineups finishing at -4.

Most effective lineups:

1. Devyn Marble-Mike Gesell-Aaron White-Melsahn Basabe-Adam Woodbury 45-25 (+20) (20:40) (both meetings)

2. Marble-Josh Oglesby-Jarrod Uthoff-Zach McCabe-Gabe Olaseni 20-6 (+14) (7:20) (second game only)

3. Marble-Oglesby-White-Basabe-McCabe 17-7 (+10) (4:41) (first game only)

4. Marble-Gesell-Uthoff-Basabe-White 7-0 (+7) (1:39) (first game only)

5. Gesell-Oglesby-Uthoff-White-Woodbury 11-6 (+5) (3:41) (first game only)

6. Marble-Gesell-White-McCabe-Woodbury 11-6 (+5) (3:38) (both meetings)

7. Anthony Clemmons-Gesell-White-McCabe-Woodbury 4-0 (+4) (1:38)

Now as you can see, Iowa’s most effective lineup against Northwestern was its starting five, which makes sense given how much the Hawkeyes were able to overwhelm the Wildcats this season. It should also be noted that nine of the players listed here all finished with combined individual pluses between the two games.

But what’s interesting is the second most effective lineup proved to be one where Marble was the only starter on the floor for Iowa. This lineup was only used the second time around on Jan. 25 and if you recall, it was the group that allowed the Hawkeyes to pull away early in the second half.

The fifth lineup listed of Gesell, Oglesby, Uthoff, White and Woodbury is worth mentioning because it was only used three times all season and it was the first meeting between Iowa and Northwestern where this lineup first got introduced by assistant coach Kirk Speraw.

Finally, the seventh lineup of Clemmons, Gesell, White, McCabe and Woodbury is intriguing in the sense that the second meeting between the two at Welsh-Ryan Arena was the only time all season this lineup was used.

Least effective lineups:

Clemmons-Marble-Uthoff-Basabe-Olaseni 2-6 (-4) (1:52) (first game only)

Clemmons-Marble-White-Basabe-Woodbury 0-4 (-4) (1:29) (first game only)

Two interesting observations to point out: One is that both of these lineups were only used the first time these teams met back on Jan. 9 in Iowa City and again, Speraw was coaching in place of Fran McCaffery, who was serving a one-game suspension. The other observation is that neither lineup has been used since. In fact, that game was the only time all season the first lineup of Clemmons, Marble, Uthoff, Basabe and Olaseni was even used.

Players to keep an eye on Thursday:

Since there were nine players with individual pluses when playing Northwestern, one could probably pick a name out of a hat, especially because all nine players had a +10 or better.

But the two that really stick out are the two to expect: White and Marble. White produced a +48 over two games against Northwestern, while Marble was a +45. With this in mind, both players should come up big for the Hawkeyes on Thursday.

As far as honorable mention guys are concerned, one would be Gesell. He was second to White in minutes played against Northwestern this season and produced a +36. Others worth pointing out would be McCabe (+33), Basabe (+32), Oglesby (+32) and Woodbury (+25). For all of these guys specifically, Northwestern is a very favorable match-up.

* Should Iowa defeat Northwestern, lineups and individual performances against Michigan State (who would be the Hawkeyes’ quarterfinal opponent) will be examined Friday prior to that game.