Cal Poly SLO @ Iowa preview

Cal Poly SLO at Iowa

Iowa looks to extend its winning streak to three games when it hosts Cal Poly in the preliminary round of the Las Vegas Invitational on Sunday. The Hawkeyes bounced back from a 93-78 loss to DePaul on Nov. 11 with wins over Oral Roberts (87-74) and North Florida (83-68) to improve to 9-1 in the month of November over the last two seasons, and hope to take care of business against the Mustangs before heading to Las Vegas to face No. 12 Texas Tech on Thursday.

"We just took it as a learning experience so the past few games we've been trying to make better decisions and I think we've been able to do that," Iowa guard Joe Wieskamp told reporters. "We need to keep building on this moving on to Sunday and into Vegas as well." The Hawkeyes have won 62 of their last 67 non-conference home games since 2012, but hope to avenge their only loss to a Big West Conference opponent under coach Fran McCaffery, which came in his first season in charge in 2010. Iowa has scored 80 or more points 17 times in non-conference play since the start of the 2017-18 campaign and hopes for more offensive fireworks by taking down Cal Poly in the first meeting between the schools. The Mustangs dropped their fourth straight road game following an 86-70 setback to Creighton on Friday, and hopes\ to end its skid by knocking off a power conference team for the first time since Nov. 25, 2012.

TV: 5 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network

ABOUT CAL POLY (1-4): Kyle Colvin led the Mustangs with a career-high 18 points and seven rebounds in the loss to Creighton to finish in double figures for the third time this season. Junior Ballard, who leads the team in scoring at 10.8 points per game, added 17 against the Blue Jays after being held scoreless in the 79-48 loss to Saint Mary's on Sunday. Malek Harwell provided a spark off the bench with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting, but the Mustangs dropped their second straight game despite shooting 51.9 percent from the field.

ABOUT IOWA (3-1): Luka Garza scored 29 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the win against North Florida to register his third double-double in four games this season and the ninth of his career. "I feel like I can score kind of anywhere on the offensive end," Garza told reporters. "My teammates are doing a good job of putting me in great position and I am trying to finish when I get the ball." Wieskamp added 14 points and eight rebounds while Jack Nunge finished with 11 points and seven boards, as the Hawkeyes held the Ospreys to 39.3 percent shooting from the floor.

TIP-INS

1. Garza leads all Division I centers in scoring at 22.5 points per game.

2. Iowa G Jordan Bohannon needs two more assists to move into fifth place on the program's all-time list.

3. Garza is the only Iowa player to score in double figures in every game this season.

PREDICTION: Iowa 86, Cal Poly 65