• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Freshmen Oden, Conley Jr., Cook look to lead Ohio St past Iowa

Jan 20, 2007 - 4:32 PM Iowa (10-8) at No. 7 Ohio St (15-3) 8:00 pm EST

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) -- In order for Iowa to beat Ohio State for a fourth straight meeting, it likely will have to shut down the Buckeyes' star freshmen.

High school teammates Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. and fellow first-year player Daequan Cook hope to lead the seventh-ranked Buckeyes to a Big Ten Conference victory over the Hawkeyes on Saturday.

Oden is averaging 14.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 4.0 blocks, Conley 6.6 assists and 2.7 steals and Cook 13.9 points and 5.3 rebounds for the Buckeyes (15-3, 3-1 Big Ten), who are tied for third place in the conference.

The Buckeyes crushed Northwestern on Wednesday, 73-41, behind a season-high 17 points and 10 assists by Conley, who needs just seven more assists to break Damon Stringer's school freshman record (125). It was Conley's third 10-assist game.

While Ohio State has won five of its last six games, Iowa (10-8, 2-2) has dropped two of three, including a 71-64 setback at Indiana on Tuesday.

Adam Haluska had 21 points and Tyler Smith 17 for the Hawkeyes, who scored just 17 points in the first half.

Iowa has won six of the last eight in the series, including the last three.