Gophers vs. Iowa brings Daniel Oturu vs. Luka Garza Round II

If the first meeting between the Gophers' Daniel Oturu and Iowa's Luka Garza was a 12-round heavyweight title fight, the scorecard would have slightly favored Oturu.

Garza, a 6-11, 260-pound junior, is arguably the favorite to win the Big Ten Player of the Year award. But Oturu, the Gophers' 6-10, 240-pound sophomore, tested Garza like few big men have this season.

Oturu won his individual battle, but he lost the war — in a 20-point loss Dec. 9 in Iowa City. The much-anticipated rematch of Oturu vs. Garza comes Sunday at Williams Arena.

The Gophers (12-11, 6-7 Big Ten) could use another big game from Oturu in the matchup of the league's top centers. That won't be enough, though, to beat the No. 21 Hawkeyes (17-8, 8-6) in what appears to be the biggest home game this season for Minnesota.

"Iowa — that's a big game," Oturu said. "We have to have the same mentality to start the game strong like we did versus Wisconsin [in the last home game]. It's got to be like that every game from here on out."

In last Saturday's 83-77 loss at Penn State, Oturu scored a career-high 32 points to go with 16 rebounds and three blocks. Garza, who has averaged 26.9 points in Big Ten play, had 38 points in the Hawkeyes' 89-77 loss Thursday at Indiana.

Iowa is 1-3 this season when Garza scores 30 points or more.

Gophers coach Richard Pitino said Garza is "a terrific, terrific player. He's tough. He's relentless with post-ups. He's relentless with running the court."

Oturu watched Garza this offseason after being challenged by Pitino to take his game to another level after a solid freshman year.

"It was just fascinating for me to see how hard he posts for an entire possession," Oturu told the Big Ten Network. "I just do the best I can to imitate that because now it will help me down low. Because that's the main part of my game."

Sunday is a chance for Oturu to see how much he and the Gophers have improved since their 72-52 loss at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Garza had 21 points and 10 rebounds in that December meeting, shooting 8-for-17 from the floor. Oturu had 22 points on 10-for-12 shooting to go with 12 rebounds and five blocks, but he committed a career-high eight turnovers.