Northwestern 67, Iowa 62: Tre Demps posted 20 points, six rebounds and five assists as the Wildcats ended a five-game losing streak to the Hawkeyes in the first round of the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis.
Drew Crawford tallied 15 points and six assists for 11th-seeded Northwestern (14-18), which rebounded from a pair of 26-point setbacks in January to Iowa and will square off against third-seeded Michigan State in Friday's quarterfinals. Dave Sobolewski scored all 10 of his points in the second half, including two late 3-pointers that helped the Wildcats hold on.
Roy Devyn Marble finished with 25 points – his sixth 20-point effort in his last seven contests – for No. 6 seed Iowa (20-12), which lost for the sixth time in seven games. Jarrod Uthoff added 17 points and nine rebounds off the bench as the Hawkeyes were unable to overcome a season-worst 32.3-percent effort from the field.
Northwestern trailed by seven late in the opening stanza, but Demps and Kale Abrahamson combined for all the points during a half-ending 10-3 surge – capped by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Demps – and scored 10 of the first 13 points out of the break to build a 41-34 advantage. Iowa battled back to knot it at 45 midway through the second half, but Demps drilled another triple.
Sobolewski followed with five straight points to preserve the lead and nailed a 3-pointer with 5:01 left to keep Northwestern in front and another 2:39 later to put the Wildcats ahead 60-53. The Hawkeyes made things interesting when Marble and Uthoff each converted three-point plays over the final 26 seconds, but Northwestern made five of its final six free throws to seal it.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Northwestern, which improved to 58-113 all-time against Iowa, suffered a 54-40 home loss to Michigan State on Jan. 15 and dropped an 85-70 decision in East Lansing on Feb. 13. … Excluding Marble, Iowa’s starters shot a combined 2-of-15 from the field and scored seven points. … The Hawkeyes enjoyed a plus-18.5 rebounding margin over Northwestern in their two meetings, but settled for a 37-29 edge in this one.
Northwestern | Iowa | |
Tre Demps 20 | Scoring | Roy Devyn Marble 25 |
Drew Crawford 6 | Assists | Roy Devyn Marble 4 |
Dave Sobolewski 6 | Rebounds | Jarrod Uthoff 9 |
Alex Olah 4 | Free Throws Made | Roy Devyn Marble 8 |
Nikola Cerina 1 | Steals | Mike Gesell 2 |
Alex Olah 2 | Blocks | Melsahn Basabe 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Northwestern | 67 | 52.3 | 11-23 | 10-13 | 14 | 23 | 4 | 4 | 13 |
Iowa | 62 | 32.3 | 6-24 | 16-18 | 13 | 31 | 5 | 7 | 9 |