Iowa @ San Diego St. preview

Iowa will try to win a Thanksgiving tournament for the second straight year when they face undefeated San Diego State in the championship game of the Las Vegas Invitational at the Orleans Arena on Friday night. The Hawkeyes, who upset No. 13 Oregon 77-69 in the semifinals en route to the 2K Empire Classic title at Madison Square Garden in New York, stunned 12th-ranked Texas Tech 72-61 in Thursday's semifinals.

Senior guard Jordan Bohannon had a game-high 20 points and six assists, and 6-11 junior forward Luka Garza added 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Hawkeyes, who have four in a row since getting blown out at home by DePaul 93-78 on Nov. 11. Garza, who entered the win over the Red Raiders leading the Big Ten in scoring (22.2) while also ranking third in rebounding (10.2), was smiling afterward despite having to leave the game for about two minutes in the second half to get four stitches to close up a nasty gash on his lip after also taking a shot to the nose earlier in the contest. "I'm good right now," Garza said. "Getting a win, that's all that matters. I knew it was going to be a physical game going against Texas Tech. That's their brand of basketball and I love the physicality being in the Big Ten." San Diego State also showed it can play a physical brand of basketball, outrebounding Creighton 37-21 while holding the Bluejays to 38.5 shooting in a 83-52 victory in Thursday's other semifinal.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

ABOUT IOWA (5-1): Bohannon, who sat out the Hawkeyes' 85-59 home victory over Cal Poly on Sunday with soreness to the right hip that he had surgery on to repair a labral tear in May, connected on 4-of-9 3-pointers and all eight of his free throws and had one turnover in 33 minutes. "He's somebody that when he's on the floor everybody else settles down," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. "He's going to make a big play, a big shot, he's going to make all his free throws." Sophomore guard Joe Wieskamp also had a big game for the Hawkeyes, scoring 16 points, including 4-of-7 3-pointers, and grabbing six rebounds while freshman guard CJ Frederick added 10 points including a key 3-pointer after Texas Tech had cut the lead to two points 61-59.

ABOUT SAN DIEGO STATE (7-0): The Aztecs played their trademark suffocating defense in their win over Creighton, holding the Bluejays to 4-of-23 shooting behind the arc and snapping their streak of games with at least five 3-pointers in a game at 76 in a row. Junior guard Malachi Flynn, a transfer from Washington State, led the offense with 21 points to go with three assists and two steals while junior forward Matt Mitchell added 16 points, including 3-of-3 from 3-point range, and 6-10 forward Yanni Wetzell, a grad transfer from Wake Forest, finished with 15 points, six rebounds and four assists. The Aztecs shot 55.8 percent, including 11-of-18 from 3-point range, and also finished with a 32-20 edge in points in the paint.

TIP-INS

1. This is the first meeting between Iowa and San Diego State.

2. Bohannon, who led the Big Ten in free throw shooting in each of the last two seasons, is 12-for-12 from the line in 2019-20.

3. San Diego State is off to its first 7-0 start since 2010-11 when the Kawhi Leonard-led Aztecs started 20-0 en route to a 34-3 record that ended with a 74-67 loss to eventual tournament champion Connecticut in the Sweet 16.

PREDICTION: Iowa 80, San Diego State 73