Iowa (12-4) vs. USC (10-6)
January 14, 2025 10:30 pm EDT
The Line: USC -1.5; Over/Under: 162.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Iowa Hawkeyes and the USC Trojans meet Tuesday in college basketball action from Galen Center. Here’s a USC vs Iowa prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best USC vs Iowa pick.
Iowa Hawkeyes Betting Preview
The Hawkeyes have had a pretty steady season so far; they’ve only got one bad stretch of games in the books this year. Iowa would open things up with a string of wins over East Texas A&M, Southern, South Dakota, Washington State, and Rider. The aforementioned bad stretch came next in a 2-3 run with wins over only USC Upstate and Northwestern alongside losses to Utah State, Michigan, and Iowa State. Since then Iowa has been on a pretty solid run. They’re 5-1 in their last six games, losing to only Wisconsin in that time. The wins otherwise have been over New Orleans, Utah, New Hampshire, Nebraska, and Indiana for a 12-4 overall record through the first 16 games so far this season.
In the Indiana matchup back on Saturday, the Hawkeyes didn’t have too many issues. Iowa came out of the break sporting a 10-point lead 43-33, then got even better in the second half on a 42-27 run. The result was a dominant blowout win at home 85-60 against a pretty good Hoosiers team. Iowa’s Payton Sandfort led the team with 23 points with six boards and three assists. Owen Freeman doubled up on 16 points, 12 boards, four blocks and three steals. Brock Harding doubled as well with 10 points, 10 assists, and four rebounds in the victory.
USC Trojans Betting Preview
Over on the USC side, they’ve been a pretty erratic team for most of the season, but they do have some nice wins in the bag so far. The Trojans opened on a 5-1 run with a lone loss to California amid wins over Chattanooga, Idaho State, Texas Arlington, San Jose State, and Grambling. A three-game losing streak versus Saint Mary’s, New Mexico, and Oregon came next, then a string of wins over Washington, Montana State, Cal State Northridge, and Southern. Following losses to Michigan and Indiana, USC took an upset road win over Illinois over the weekend for a 10-6 overall record so far this year.
In the Saturday game versus the Illini, the Trojans came out of the gate swinging. USC stayed with Illinois in the first half, going into the locker room with a three-point deficit. The Trojans hit a 47-34 run the rest of the way and took the win 82-72. Desmond Claude went off for 31 points, three assists, and one rebound in the victory, while Wesley Yates added 15 points, six rebounds, and two assists. Coming off the bench to score 13 points with eight boards, one steal and one block in 30 minutes of work was Rashaun Agee.
Why the USC Trojans will win
- Iowa has lost 13 of its last 15 road night games against the Big Ten Conference.
- USC has won six of its last seven night games at Galen Center against non-AP-ranked opponents.
- USC has won the first half in each of its last eight night games at Galen Center.
Why the Iowa Hawkeyes will win
- Iowa has won each of its last eight Tuesday games.
- USC has lost four of its last five night games.
- Iowa has won the first half in seven of its last nine night games.
USC vs Iowa Prediction
I’ll stick with Iowa. The Hawkeyes posted an impressive win over a pretty talented Indiana team in their last win, notching a nice 54.2 percent shooting from the field, 11-of-24 (45.8 percent) from outside, and 37 rebounds. It wasn’t perfect though, as Iowa also tallied just 10-of-18 (55.6 percent) from the line with 13 turnovers. Still, the Hawkeyes continue to post some nice points totals this year. They’ve hit 69 or more points in all 16 games so far, and 80 or more points in 10 consecutive outings.
As for USC, we got to see them play to their capabilities during the second half of the upset win over Illinois. The Trojans finally put everything together in that one, posting 52.3 percent shooting and a 37-34 rebounding edge while holding a great Illini squad to just 37.1 percent shooting on the other side. USC was a little careless with the ball (14 turnovers) during a pretty sloppy overall game (29 total turnovers), but it was still their best effort of the season. All of that said, I don’t think USC will maintain that intensity in another tricky matchup against Iowa.
