IOWA CITY, Iowa– A strong start to the Big Ten season is a major boost to what Iowa hopes to accomplish this season and that’s exactly what they got on Tuesday night inside of Carver-Hawkeye Arena in a 80-79 win over Northwestern.
The Hawkeyes rushed out to a 5-0 lead after an Owen Freeman lay-up and a Josh Dix three-pointer. Iowa’s pressure defense disrupted what Northwestern was trying to establish from the perimeter. The Wildcats would trail 8-3 at the first media timeout and only converted one of their first six shots.
Freeman would open up the second segment with a three-pointer of his own and Iowa would go up double-digits. Northwestern would switch to apply more on-ball pressure on the perimeter and it did disrupt the Hawkeyes a bit. Iowa managed to keep control and not crumple under the adjustment to go up 15-8 through the first eight minutes.
McCaffery’s squad continue to stay steady and control whatever was happening on the court. Iowa would utilize a 7-0 run over 1:39 to take a 24-13 lead with 8:32 remaining in the first half. Dix continued to hit his shots at a high clip despite being heavily contested on almost all of them.
Iowa has about as scary of a big three as you could ask in Big Ten basketball. Dix, Freeman and Sandfort can score at all three levels and that’s exactly what they did early on. The trio combined for 34 of Iowa’s 45 first-half points. Iowa was looking for the knockout punch in the first half with defensive activity and timely buckets.
The Hawkeyes would get the lead as high as 17 in the first 20 minutes before Northwestern started to show some resilience of its own. Brooks Barnhizer tallied seven while a number of other players contributed a bucket or two to keep themselves within striking distance.
Northwestern would start to crawl back into the game in the second half. They used an 8-0 run over 2:39 to cut Iowa’s lead to 53-48 with 13:39 remaining in the half. Barnhizer led the way with six points during the opening five minutes.
Ty Berry entered Tuesday’s game averaging just over six points a game, but he was on fire from distance. The fifth-year guard drilled four three-pointers in the game’s first 28 minutes, including one to bring the Wildcats back within 54-53. Northwestern would score 18 points off of Iowa’s 12 turnovers.
Chris Collins’ crew out-hustled on the glass, claiming 10 offensive rebounds and turning them into 12 second-chance points to take a 63-61 advantage with 7:43 remaining. After a free throw by Northwestern, Payton Sandfort went down on the other end to drill a three and tie the game back up at 64.
Berry hadn’t scored more than 10 points all season long, but he continued to be a go-to option for the Wildcats. Despite being heavily-contested, Berry would hit another three to take out the Carver crowd.
Brock Harding would get a tough layup to go with 43 seconds remaining, but Drew Thelwell would commit a foul on the other end and allow Northwestern to get the lead back to three with 21.7 seconds remaining. Harding wouldn’t waste any time on the other end and get a tough layup to go plus the foul. The sophomore guard would miss the game-tying free throw.
Iowa would get one final shot at the other end with .8 seconds remaining and Josh Dix called game with a 35-footer at the buzzer.
Northwestern would end the second-half by out-rebounding, scoring more points in the point, turning the ball over less and had more second-chance points than Iowa. Ultimately, it didn’t matter.
Star(s) of the Game:
Josh Dix- Prior to the season, there were people suggesting that Dix could be among the best two-way players in the conference. He has continued to prove them right with the start to his season. Dix would continue to hit some big shots to halt Northwestern momentum, but he also showed an ability to take it to the rim and finish in traffic. The junior guard has long proven that he is one of Iowa’s most controlled players. He’s capable of handling the offense, contesting shots, rebounding and makes the smart basketball play when Iowa needs him to.
He ended with 22 points and six rebounds.
Up Next: The Hawkeyes will play one more game in the Big Ten before returning to conclude their non-conference slate. Iowa will be traveling up to Michigan to take on a re-energized Wolverine squad. The game is slated to tip-off at 1 pm and will be televised on FS1.
Signing Day SALE: You can get an annual membership for 50% off. Take advantage now and be among the first people to know everything going on regarding Iowa football, men’s and women’s basketball, recruiting and much, much, more! Click Here!
