Oglesby, Gatens lead Iowa past N. Illinois 88-55

IOWA CITY - Iowa coach Fran McCaffery kept telling Josh Oglesby to shoot. The freshman listened.

Oglesby scored 16 points off the bench, including four 3-pointers, as Iowa beat Northern Illinois 88-55 Thursday night. The Hawkeyes (3-0) won their third straight game for the first time since December 2008.

"I have seen very few shooters that shoot the ball like he does in 29 years," McCaffery said. "When you have them like that, what they have to know is that I have every bit as much confidence in him as he has in himself."

Iowa shot 54 percent from the field, including 13 of 21 3-point shots. Matt Gatens had 15 points, including three 3-pointers, and Eric May added 14 points.

Oglesby missed his first 3-pointer, but heeded his coach's advice and didn't miss again in the first half. He connected on 4 of 7 3-pointers for the game.

Oglesby even had the wind knocked out of him near the end of the first half, throwing up on the bench and again in the tunnel. But he was fine for the second half.

Earlier this week, McCaffery pulled Oglesby into a meeting to reaffirm his confidence in him.

"This is the first time I've been pressured to shoot the ball," said Oglesby, a renowned scorer in high school from nearby Cedar Rapids who averaged 21.2 points as a senior.

Oglesby had made only 1 of 9 shots in Iowa's first two games, including seven missed 3-pointers.

"He can shoot it whenever he wants to - early in the shot clock, at the end of the shot clock, off one pass, in transition - doesn't matter," McCaffery said. "I'm a firm believer that a shooter has to have that type of green light to be the kind of player that they can be."

Senior Bryce Cartwright finished with nine assists and no turnovers. Eleven Hawkeyes scored in the game.

"I think we're an unselfish team and that really helps," Cartwright said. "We have a lot of guys who can get theirs."

Gatens, who grew up less than four miles from Carver-Hawkeye Arena, moved into the top 25 on Iowa's all-time scoring list with a fade-away 3-pointer in the corner just before the buzzer in the first half. He passed Iowa radio analyst Bob Hansen (1980-83) and Kevin Kunnert (1971-73) and now has 1,152 career points.

Abdel Nader had 18 points for Northern Illinois (0-3), which allowed 28 points off turnovers. The Huskies trailed by only five points with eight minutes left in the first half, but Iowa used a 19-7 run to lead 49-30 at the break.

"I thought we ran out of gas," first-year coach Mark Montgomery said. "We're a young team and we just need more and more game experience."

Iowa center Andrew Brommer did not play after reinjuring his knee Monday against North Carolina AT&T. Brommer also missed the Hawkeyes' season opener on Nov. 11.

N. ILLINOIS (0-3)

Toler 4-11 0-0 10, Nader 8-19 0-0 18, Bolin 3-3 0-0 7, Christian 1-5 2-2 5, Ford 1-3 2-4 4, Miller 0-2 0-0 0, Kev. Gray 0-1 1-4 1, Berg 0-4 0-0 0, Kei. Gray 2-5 0-0 4, Barnette 0-0 2-2 2, Jackson 0-0 1-2 1, Storm 0-1 3-4 3. Totals 19-54 11-18 55.

IOWA (3-0)

Basabe 2-3 4-4 8, May 6-8 0-0 14, Archie 2-2 0-2 4, Gatens 5-6 2-2 15, Cartwright 1-5 2-2 4, Olaseni 0-3 0-0 0, Oglesby 6-9 0-0 16, Cox 0-0 0-0 0, Marble 2-8 1-2 5, Denning 0-0 0-0 0, McCarty 1-2 0-0 2, McCabe 3-6 0-0 8, White 4-6 0-1 9, Stubbs 1-2 0-0 3, Stokes 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 33-61 9-13 88.

Halftime_Iowa 49-30. 3-Point Goals_N. Illinois 6-22 (Nader 2-4, Toler 2-5, Bolin 1-1, Christian 1-5, Miller 0-1, Ford 0-1, Storm 0-1, Berg 0-4), Iowa 13-21 (Oglesby 4-7, Gatens 3-4, May 2-2, McCabe 2-3, White 1-1, Stubbs 1-2, Cartwright 0-1, McCarty 0-1). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_N. Illinois 34 (Toler 9), Iowa 35 (Archie 7). Assists_N. Illinois 11 (Ford 4), Iowa 26 (Cartwright 9). Total Fouls_N. Illinois 12, Iowa 13. A_9,666.