It might not receive the 24 hour ESPN marathon, or the tens of millions of completed brackets, but helping young teams develop during post season play is very important, and that’s something the NIT can offer. After Winter Storm Stella pushed back multiple games start times, the University of Iowa faced off against South Dakota University on Wednesday night at Carver Hawkeye Arena. While it wasn’t always the prettiest of times for the Hawkeyes as they committed 16 turnovers throughout the course of the game, they survived the Coyotes 72% free throw shooting on 25 shots, and out lasted South Dakota 87-75.

While the number one seeded Hawkeyes will be on to the second round, the same can’t be said about other teams in the tournament. Upsets have become synonymous with March Madness, in the first two days of this year’s NIT, three of the four 7 seeds upset the 2 seeds they were matched up against, also number one seeded California lost at home to eight seed CSU Bakersfield. While winning the NIT may seem like a consolation prize to some, the journey and the experience that comes with it all is worth playing for and according to South Dakota coach Craig Smith, “Iowa is a good team that’s going to do some damage.”

Up next for the Iowa Hawkeyes they will take on Texas Christian University, who in the Big 12 Tournament knocked off number 1 ranked Kansas in the first round, Sunday March 19 at Carver Hawkeye Arena. Tipoff is expected for 6:30pm.

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That said, a first round home loss to an eight seed would be a huge let down, but it happens quite often. It even happened just last night to California. South Dakota won their conference for a reason, and if Iowa overlooks them their season may very well end at the hands of the Coyotes.

The Coyotes are led by two 1st team all-conference players, 6’9 senior center Tyler Flack and 6’3 sophomore wingman Matt Mooney. Flack excels with his mid-range game, hitting pick and pop jumpers with consistency and dragging out opposing big men that he can beat off the dribble. He averages over 15 points and just under 7 rebounds a game while shooting over 52 percent. He’s their anchor in the middle, and he has the skill set to exploit Iowa’s zone defense.

Matt Mooney comes in averaging 18.5 points a game, scoring over 20 a game in conference play and 27 a game in the conference tournament. He’s their primary playmaker, and he can make things happen in multiple ways. He’s taken twice as many three pointers as any other Coyote, so that’s something the Hawkeyes need to look out for. Mooney is excited for the opportunity. “The NCAA tournament is the ultimate goal, but it’s still exciting to play in the NIT” Mooney told KRUI. “The NIT is a great opportunity, we get to play against a Big Ten team and we’re excited.”

The biggest story line of this game is the return of former Hawkeye Trey Dickerson, who is now a senior starting at point guard for South Dakota. Dickerson leads the Coyotes in assists and is their third leading scorer at 10.4 ppg. Dickerson never got consistent playing time at Iowa, but he has at South Dakota and he’s had success out in the Summit league. The opportunity to knock off his former team has Dickerson fired up. “I definitely have a little extra juice for this game” Dickerson told KRUI. “I have a lot of great friends on that team, so I’m excited to see them on the court again.”

South Dakota doesn’t bring anything to the table defensively that Iowa hasn’t seen before, so the Hawkeyes should be able to score in bunches. As long as Iowa can contain Mooney, Flack, and Dickerson they should be able to advance comfortably into the second round.

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