Iowa didn’t just knock Northwestern out of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday afternoon. The Hawkeyes threw the Wildcats out of Gainbridge Fieldhouse on their ear.
Simply put, 12th-seeded Northwestern ran into a buzz saw in its second-round Big Ten Tournament game. Tipping off about 15 hours after Wednesday night’s win over Nebraska, the already tired Wildcats got blitzed by an fifth-seed Iowa team that put on an offensive performance for the ages.
By the time the smoke cleared, Iowa had a 112-76 win and owned several Big Ten Tournament single-game scoring records. Among them: most three-pointers (19), most points (112), most field goals (43) and largest margin of victory (36).
The Hawkeyes conducted a clinic in a game that quickly devolved from a blowout to a laugher. Iowa hit an incredible 19 of 29 (66%) of their three-pointers and finished with an average of about 1.5 points per possession. They also racked up a remarkable 25 assists.
"I don’t know how anybody beats them when they play like that," said NU head coach Chris Collins.
The funny thing is, the Wildcats didn’t play that badly offensively. They shot 46% for the game and even hit nine three-pointers.
But defensively, they put up very little resistance as Iowa had its way and got whatever shots it wanted, inside or outside. And, as Collins pointed out, “They didn’t miss much and when they did, they got their rebounds.”
Northwestern was paced by Ryan Young, who scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, as his effort never waned, despite the enormous deficit on the scoreboard. Boo Buie added 12, while Pete Nance – who deserved better in his last game as a Wildcat – finished with 11.
Keegan Murray led Iowa with 26 points, while Jordan Bohannon hit 5-of-8 from beyond the arc and added 17. A total of 10 Hawkeyes hit at least one three-pointer.
Iowa started fast in this one, and Northwestern looked a step slow. Bohannon hit a couple threes and the Wildcats fell behind 15-4 by the under-4 timeout. Iowa was beating them to loose balls, pushing the pace and crashing the offensive boards.
How bad was it? Northwestern hit four of its first five three-pointers and still trailed 38-22. Iowa increased the lead to 20 after a Murray alley-oop dunk that forced a Northwestern timeout.
By halftime, the Hawkeyes led 64-31 and the game was decided. Their 64 points in the first half was just 4.5 points fewer than Northwestern’s average points allowed in a full game.
Northwestern rallied from a 15-point deficit to beat Nebraska the night before, but there would be no such heroics against the Hawkeyes.
The Wildcats came out and went on an 8-0 run to start the second half, featuring three-pointers by Julian Roper II and Nance, and a Buie teardrop. But Iowa answered with an 11-0 run of its own to erase it. The Hawkeyes’ lead reached 40 with 14:16 left.
Then, the records started falling. They drained their Big Ten Tournament-best 15th three-pointer – by Bohannon, of course – at the 12:41 mark. Next, the tourney scoring record was eclipsed when Josh Ogundele scored on a putback with 4:32 left. Ogundele’s basket was also the record 43rd field goal of the game for the Hawkeyes.
Iowa’s last three-pointer came from Luke Laketa, who banked in a prayer with 21 seconds left as the shot-clock expired. His shot drew an immediate rebuke from Iowa head coach Fran McCaffrey, who didn’t want his team to shoot because the Wildcats had called off their defense.
That’s the kind of day it was for Iowa: even their mistakes turned into points.
The loss ends Northwestern’s season with a record of 15-16. The Wildcats went 7-13 in Big Ten play, and 1-1 in the conference tournament.
