North Florida @ Iowa preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 22, 2014 ) North Florida 70, Iowa 80

Iowa returns to the court for the first time in six days to take on North Florida at home in a preliminary game of the Las Vegas Invitational on Thursday night. The Hawkeyes rebounded from a loss to DePaul last week to defeat Oral Roberts on Friday in their most recent outing.

After that game, Iowa coach Fran McCaffery announced that one of his two sons on the team - 6-foot-9, 190-pound freshman forward Patrick - will sit out indefinitely with residual health-related issues. The young McCaffery survived thyroid cancer as a seventh grader, but his father emphasized that the cancer has not returned. McCaffery had six points and five rebounds in Iowa's first two games and his absence won't have an immediate impact on the Hawkeyes, who are off to a slow start. North Florida has won four in a row since a 74-59 loss to Florida in its opener.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network

ABOUT NORTH FLORIDA (4-1): Coach Matthew Driscoll has made the Ospreys a competitive program in the Atlantic Sun Conference during his 10 seasons at the school while leading the program to an NCAA Tournament berth in 2015 and into the NIT in 2016. North Florida finished 16-17 overall last season and one of the returnees from that team, redshirt senior J.T. Escobar, leads four players averaging in double figures at 15 points per game. Carter Hendricksen, a 6-foot-7 sophomore forward who is the reigning Atlantic Sun Player of the Week, is the team's second-leading scorer at 14.8 points and the leading rebounder at 8.6.

ABOUT IOWA (2-1): To have success this season, the Hawkeyes are counting on big things from 6-11, 260-pound center Luka Garza, who leads the Big Ten in scoring at 21.3 points and was tied for fourth in rebounding entering Wednesday with 10 per game. Garza delivered a career-high 30 points and 10 rebounds against Oral Roberts. Jack Nunge, a 6-10 redshirt sophomore, gave Iowa an additional front-line producer in that game (14 points,10 points) that could be difficult for undersized North Florida to handle.

TIP-INS

1. Preseason All-Big Ten pick Joe Wieskamp is expected to be one of Iowa's most productive players this season but is shooting 37.5 percent from the field, including 27.3 percent on 3-pointers, and averaging 10.3 points.

2. Iowa senior G Jordan Bohannon scored a season-best 11 points against Oral Roberts as he continues to come off the bench and contemplate whether to take a redshirt year while recovering from May hip surgery.

3. Hendricksen posted 17 rebounds and 12 points in North Florida's victory over Georgia Southern last week that followed a 15-point, eight-rebound effort in a win over Southern Miss.

PREDICTION: Iowa 83, North Florida 75