Cats suffer first Big Ten loss at Iowa
Northwestern held Iowa player of the year candidate Luka Garza in check. They hit 10 3-pointers. Pete Nance had a career night.
But it still wasn’t enough as the No. 19 Wildcats lost to No. 10 Iowa, 87-72, in Iowa City and suffered their first loss in Big Ten play after three straight wins.
Garza was limited to 18 points, 11 below his average. But Jordan Bohannon took over in the second half to pick up the slack, scoring 19 of his game-high 24 points.
Pete Nance led the Wildcats with 21 points, while Chase Audige tallied 11.
Northwestern, which trailed by 9 points at the half, made a couple runs at Iowa in the second half, but every time they got close, Iowa had an answer.
The Wildcats hit three straight 3-pointers to cut Iowa’s lead to 47-45 early in the second half, but the Hawkeyes went on a 7-0 run to get the lead back to 9. The Wildcats then whittled the lead down to 63-60 before Iowa scored 6 straight points to again push the advantage to 9.
Here are our takeaways from the loss that dropped Northwestern’s record to 6-2 overall and 3-1 in Big Ten play:
Nance had a career night: Nance outplayed Garza and registered a career high with his 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting.
The talented junior put on a clinic in the first half, scoring the Wildcats first 8 points, 6 of them on a pair of 3-pointers. When Northwestern was falling behind, Nance took over offensively, driving to the hole for a dunk and a layup on consecutive possessions, and then threading a behind-the-back pass to Anthony Gaines under the basket that drew a foul.
Nance finished the half with 17 points, three rebounds and a block. He was quieter in the second half, but he hit 3-of-4 3-pointers for the game and also had four rebounds.
About the only mark against Nance was a highly questionable technical foul call against him in the second half that changed the complexion of the game. Nance yelled an expletive while blocking a shot. After Bohannon hit the two technical free throws and Garza got a layup on the ensuing possession, Iowa’s lead grew from 5 to 9 points, and the Wildcats wouldn’t really threaten again.
Garza was quiet: Northwestern’s game plan against the nation’s leading scorer worked about as well as head coach Chris Collins could have hoped.
The Wildcats double-teamed the big man whenever he touched the ball inside. He was harassed into 6-of-14 shooting and failed to score 20 points for the first time in 18 games. He had six rebounds, one block and one assist.
All in all, Garza didn’t have much of an impact on the game. Both Northwestern centers fared pretty well against him: Nance outscored him, and Ryan Young had 10 points in just 14 minutes.
Iowa’s shooters stepped up: A different Hawkeye was a difference maker in each half. In the first period it was CJ Fredrick, in the second it was Bohannon.
While Garza scored just 6 points in the first half, Fredrick hurt the Wildcats with 17 points to help the Hawkeyes to a 54-45 lead at the break. Fredrick, who drained 3-of-4 3-pointers in the half, then went largely silent, scoring just 2 points after the break.
But that was okay because Bohannon went off for the Hawkeyes from long distance over the last 20 minutes. The redshirt senior guard got red-hot, hitting 5-of-6 3s and pouring in 19 points. Every time Northwestern narrowed the gap, it seemed like Bohannon was there to nail a 3 and end the rally.
The Cats corrected their problems in the second half: Iowa used big advantages in turnovers and offensive rebounding to help build its halftime lead.
Iowa had a 9-0 edge in points off of turnovers as the Wildcats turned it over an uncharacteristic nine times in the first 20 minutes. The Hawkeyes also enjoyed an 11-3 advantage in second-chance points thanks to eight offensive boards.
But it was a different story in the second half. The Wildcats committed just three turnovers in the second half and flipped the script on the glass, pulling down six more offensive boards than Iowa and outscoring them 11-2 in second-chance points.
The game was closer than the score: Northwestern went toe-to-toe with a Final Four contender on the road on Wednesday night. And really, not much separated the two teams, who both like to push the pace and rely on 3-point shooting.
Northwestern hit 44% of its shots, while Iowa drained 48%. The Wildcats went 11-of-25 on 3-pointers, Iowa went 11-of-26. Northwestern got 20 points from its bench, Iowa got 15.
Iowa had an edge in several categories, but the numbers were close in rebounds (36-32), turnovers (+4), points in the paint (24-18), fast-break points (11-9) and assists (17-15).
The only area where the Hawkeyes had a sizable advantage was at the free-throw line, where they outscored Northwestern by 11 and made more shots (20) than the Wildcats attempted (12).