Cold-shooting NU ripped by Iowa
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern was unable to overcome a cold shooting night form the field in dropping a 70-50 decision to Iowa at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Sunday.
Dave Sobolewski led the Wildcats with 14 points and five assists while Tre Demps contributed 10 points off the bench.
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Scoring proved tough for both teams over the first half. A 3-pointer by Iowa native Kale Abrahamson gave NU an early 5-2 lead, but the three-point advantage was the largest for either team through the first 14 minutes of play.
The score was tied 11-11 with eight minutes left in the opening stanza, but Northwestern was held scoreless for nearly six minutes of action as the Hawkeyes scored eight consecutive points to surge in front.
A tough layup by Sobolewski cut the deficit to six, but Iowa in all closed the first half on a 14-4 run to take a 25-15 lead at the break.
Back-to-back steals and layups by Reggie Hearn and Sobolewski on the first two possessions of the second half trimmed the deficit to six, forcing Iowa to burn a timeout.
However, the Hawkeyes answered the baskets with six straight points of their own to push the lead right back up to 12.
Iowa, like Northwestern, was ice-cold from 3-point range to start the game, but Josh Oglesby connected for four triple in the second half to help the guests pull away.
NU shot just 29.4 percent from the field in the contest (15-51), while the Hawkeyes used solid shooting in the second half to finish at 46 percent (29-63).
Northwestern returns to action at 7:15 p.m. Thursday when it travels to Champaign to take on Illinois.