GAME NOTES: The Big Ten meets Conference USA in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, as the Iowa Hawkeyes take on the Cincinnati Bearcats in the Austin Region from the RCA Dome. The winner of today's game will take on either Kentucky or Eastern Kentucky in the second round on Saturday. The Hawkeyes won five of their last game six games down the stretch which not only earned them an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, but also landed them the 10th seed in the Austin Region. Iowa is making its 21st NCAA Tournament appearance and its first since 2001. The Hawkeyes are 27-22 all-time in this event and have advanced to the second round in each of its last 10 tournament appearances. As for Cincinnati, it also earned an at-large bid to the field of 65 with a solid 24-7 record. The Bearcats are making their 14th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, which is the third-longest active streak in the nation behind Arizona and Kansas. Overall, this is UC's 34th NCAA Tournament, where it has posted a 39-22 record. The Bearcats have made six trips to the Final Four, winning it all in both 1961 and 1962. Cincinnati leads the all-time series with Iowa, 5-2, but the two schools have not met since 1980.

After leading scorer Pierre Pierce (17.8 ppg) was released from the team midway through the season, Iowa went into a bit of a drought. Steve Alford's squad was able to come out of that funk just in time to make a late run into the NCAA Tournament. Despite the absence of Pierce, the Hawkeyes have still been able to put points on the board, averaging 73.2 ppg behind 46.3 percent shooting from the floor. Greg Brunner now leads the club in scoring at 14.5 ppg and he is also pulling down a team-high 8.3 rpg. Adam Haluska is a close second with 14.3 ppg and he is making good on 40.0 percent of his three-point attempts. Jeff Horner follows him with 14.1 ppg and he adds a team-best 5.6 apg. Horner is also collecting 4.5 rpg and shooting 41.0 percent from behind the arc.

As in years past, Cincinnati has been one of the stingiest defensive teams in the nation this season, limiting its opponents to just 64.4 ppg on just 37.1 percent shooting from the field. Offensively, the club is netting a solid 76.4 ppg behind 43.9 percent shooting efficiency. Jason Maxiell heads the club with 15.3 ppg and 31 steals, and he is also grabbing 7.8 rpg. Eric Hicks adds 13.9 ppg to the mix and is the team's top rebounder with 8.8 rpg. Armein Kirkland is contributing 10.8 ppg and 4.4 rpg for UC, while Jihad Muhammad chips in with 10.3 ppg. James White is also netting 10.3 ppg for the Bearcats, who are outrebounding their opponents by an average of 4.9 rpg this season.

Both teams played well down the stretch, although Cincinnati was ousted early in the C-USA Tournament. Iowa, however, has had a tremendous amount of success in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and with a big game from its trio of double-figure scorers, should prevail over a scrappy Bearcat club.