As of Friday morning, Iowa ranked in the top 10 nationally in four team categories — assists per game (No. 1, 27.7), field goal percentage (No. 5, .568), rebound margin (No. 8, plus-22.0) and points per game (No. 8, 101.7).

Meanwhile, Southern enters off a 21-15 campaign that saw the Jaguars win a First Four NCAA Tournament game before falling to UCLA as a No. 16 seed. Although leading scorer Aniya Gourdine returns from that team, the Jaguars also added six Division I transfers in the offseason.