The Washington Huskies have a big opportunity tonight to prove the doubters wrong. At 12-10 on the season and 4-7 in the Big Ten, they've been relatively underwhelming even among their own fanbase. However, the schedule was stacked against them until this point. They've played 13 of the top 31 teams in the nation, but now the schedule opens up.
However, they have to go through Iowa tonight and prove that they can hang with tournament-caliber teams. Not only hang, but beat them. Washington's best wins so far are against USC (a bubble team) and Northwestern (a team that will miss the NCAA Tournament). Iowa is a NET 21 team and would easily be the Huskies' best win of the season. FanDuel has the odds in the Hawkeyes favor, but only barely at -2.5.
Washington vs. Iowa odds show how close the game could actually be
Related: ESPN shares how the Washington Huskies make the NCAA Tournament
Those odds are close, and they indicate the oddsmakers are starting to look toward Washington, even as the Huskies have been getting healthy and playing tough basketball over the last couple of weeks. Yet, they aren't bought in all the way, even with the Dawgs at home.
FanDuel has not only set the spread at -2.5 in favor of Iowa, but the over/under is set at 141.5. Which means Vegas is predicting the game to finish at Iowa 72, Washington 69 (if you take the under). That's not a high-scoring game, but right around where both teams like to be.
UW hasn't scored or allowed an opponent to score more than 85 points since January 4th, when the Huskies played Indiana. Iowa is in a similar boat, not allowing or scoring more than 85 points since their non-conference schedule. The Hawkeyes almost did it when they played Oregon, winning 84-66.
It's a game that matters for the Huskies. While it's not a must-win, it's getting close. Washington really needs either tonight's game against Iowa or Saturday against UCLA. Win them both, and we have a drastically different conversation about NCAA Tournament chances. Lose them both, and they simply won't have a good enough resume to get in.