Iowa raced to a 19-point halftime lead and never looked back as the Hawkeyes continued their torrid early season offensive prowess by rolling to a 88-55 win on Thursday over Northern Illinois in Iowa City, Iowa.
The Hawkeyes (3-0) got a career-best 16 points off the bench from freshman guard Josh Oglesby and 15 from senior Matt Gatens, while connecting on 13 of 21 from 3-point range in handing the winless Huskies their third straight defeat to start the season under first-year head coach Mark Montgomery.
Iowa, which shot 62 percent from the field in the first half en route to a 49-30 lead, was averaging 95.5 points in its first two games. Oglesby and Gatens, who moved into 25th place on Iowa's all-time scoring list, paced the first half onslaught with 11 points apiece. Eric May chipped in 14 points for the Hawkeyes while Bryce Cartwright handed out a season-best nine assists.
The Hawkeyes’ bench outscored NIU 43-11 and held the Huskies to just 23 percent (7-31) in the second half.
Freshman Abdel Nader led NIU (0-3) with 18 points and Tim Toler added 10 points and nine rebounds.
Northern Illinois | Iowa | |
Abdel Nader 18 | Scoring | Josh Oglesby 16 |
Marquavese Ford 4 | Assists | Bryce Cartwright 9 |
Tim Toler 9 | Rebounds | Devon Archie 7 |
Tyler Storm 3 | Free Throws Made | Melsahn Basabe 4 |
Aksel Bolin 1 | Steals | Devon Archie 2 |
DeAndre Barnette 1 | Blocks | Melsahn Basabe 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Northern Illinois | 55 | 35.2 | 6-22 | 11-18 | 11 | 33 | 3 | 3 | 16 |
Iowa | 88 | 54.1 | 13-21 | 9-13 | 26 | 32 | 2 | 10 | 9 |