Jimmy Nash recaps the contest between the Hawkeyes and the Wildcats.
IOWA CITY, IA- In a tale of two halves, near record breaking performances, and senior night. The Hawkeyes emerged victorious.
Iowa (13-18, 4-14) defeated Northwestern (15-16, 6-12) 77-70 at Carver Hawkeye Arena on Sunday night.
In the first half, Iowa shot lights out scoring 45 points while Northwestern scored 28. In the second half, Iowa scored 32 points while Northwestern scored 42.
“It was nice to have one of these games going into the Big Ten Tournament,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. “We knew that we needed this performance to show what we were capable of doing.”
At one point in the first half, Iowa led by as many as 22 points. That lead got that high thanks to the three. Guard Jordan Bohannon has six 3-pointers in the first half. The team made nine 3-pointers throughout the entirety of the first half.
“I said you have to get your swag back. He was doing a good job of running the offense (the last few games), but he needs to be aggressive like that for us to win,” McCaffery said.
Going into the break, Iowa was shooting over 48 percent from the field and controlled the rebounding battle.
Iowa built the lead back to 22 in the second half after Northwestern started the half on a little run.
Scottie Lindsey was the only real offense that Northwestern had the entire night. Lindsey launched a Carver Hawkeye Arena record-tying nine 3-pointers in the night’s contest. Lindsey finished the game with 32 points, a career-high for him.
“I was proud of my guys for continuing to fight,” Northwestern head coach Chris Collins said. “With all the injuries it would’ve been easy to just lay down and let Iowa run away. We kept fighting.”
The charity stripe is really where Iowa gained its advantage.
Iowa attempted 23 shots from the line and made 17. Northwestern attempted only seven free throws and made three.
Jordan Bohannon was four of five from the line tonight. He was chasing a record.
Bohannon made his 33rd and 34th consecutive free throws in the first half to tie Chris Street’s school-record. He went to the line to attempt the front end of a 1-and-1. He intentionally missed it.
“That was something I have had on my mind the last couple of games and the last few months,” Hawkeye guard Jordan Bohannon said. “I talked to my brother and we had the same agreement that it wasn’t my record to have.”
Iowa will head to New York City to faceoff against Illinois in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m. (CT).
