Feb. 10, 2010
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Northwestern was unable to match a lights-out shooting performance by Iowa Wednesday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena as the Hawkeyes hit 12 3-pointers in downing the Wildcats 78-65.
Michael Thompson led NU (16-8, 5-7 Big Ten) with 20 points.
Iowa (9-16, 3-9) entered the contest shooting just 32.4 percent from deep on the season, but connected on 12 of 24 attempts Wednesday night.
Iowa jumped out to a 10-2 advantage out of the gates and led throughout the first half. The Wildcats closed to within 14-9 on a 3-pointer by Michael Thompson, but that's when Devan Bawinkel came off the bench and got hot. The senior guard hit two triples as part of an 8-2 surge that saw the Hawkeyes extended their lead to 22-11.
Another trey by Thompson and a steal and a lay-up by Alex Marcotullio allowed the Wildcats to creep back within six, 22-16, with eight minutes remaining in the opening stanza. However, Bawinkel hit two more triples and Northwestern scored just six more points the remainder of the half as Iowa took a 35-22 lead into the break.
The Wildcats would close to within 37-28 on Thompson's fourth 3-pointer of the game with just under 16 minutes remaining, but that's as close as the visitors would get.
Iowa shot 50 percent from the field (23-46) in the contest, compared to 43.9 percent (25-57) for the Wildcats.
Northwestern returns to action at 4 p.m. Sunday as it hosts Minnesota at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Good seats are still available and can be ordered online at NUsports.com or by calling (847) 491-CATS.