Hawkeyes' opponents are Open All Night

IOWA CITY - Fran McCaffery let some rage loose on the officials Wednesday night and got a first-half technical foul for his actions.

Official Eric Curry hollered right back at McCaffery, as if to say "Sit down and pipe down, it's not our fault your team can't defend against 3-point shooters."

Long after the shouting had died down, Northwestern had bolted down a victory. The score was 90-71. It was every bit as close as the score indicates and less.

Northwestern, a 3-point-shooting team of prowess well before last night's game in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, must have looked at previous Big Ten game film of the Hawkeyes and gleefully thought "They don't guard against what we do best!" Then the Wildcats went out and did what they do best against an Iowa defense that didn't do what it doesn't do best.

Northwestern (11-4) came here with the nation's second-best 3-point shooter in John Shurna, who had made 40 of 69 for a phenomenal 58 percent. Shurna made just one trey in the first-half, yet the ‘Cats led 48-27 because they had gotten nine other 3-pointers from other sources.

Truth be told, they should have made more than 10 bombs in the half. They tried 20, and many of the 10 they missed were open.

"Overall, I'm very disappointed in our effort,and concentration, and execution," McCaffery said.

Not that any of this was a shocking defensive breakdown by the Hawkeyes, since their first three Big Ten opponents had combined to scorch them for 28 threes and 48.3 percent shooting from that distance.

But Northwestern, this was its game. It's a good-passing, good-cutting, good-shooting team, but it's nothing like Purdue or Ohio State when it comes to an inside presence. This team lives beyond the arc. Out in the basketball suburbs, you could say.

But there was more to this exhibition than Northwestern's 14 threes in 28 tries. Iowa had three assists and 10 turnovers in the first half to Northwestern's 14 and 5. All numbers like that for two teams have ever meant was a mismatch. And this was one.

The team that looked like it had lost every Iowa City game in this series since 2004 was the home team, not the visitor. The team that looked like it was an extension of a program that has never participated in the NCAA tourney was the home team, not the guest.

At one point in the second half, Iowa had four free-throws and an offensive rebound on a single possession. It didn't score a point.

The Hawkeyes used a 10-3 run to cut the ‘Cats lead to 58-43 with 15:22 remaining, enough time remaining to envision further chopping and whittling to an interesting finish. Then NU ripped off six straight points, all on the oldfangled thing called 2-point baskets.

Enough with the numbers. Iowa fans said they'd rather lose by 90-70 than 70-50, and they're getting their wish.

The new style of play is more appealing. The competitiveness, the closing the gap with other Big Ten teams? That will be a work-in-progress all season. We all knew it would be.

After trips to Minnesota and Ohio State, Iowa will probably return to Carver 0-6 in the conference. It will face Indiana, the other winless team in league play, on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 23.

The game will be played at the same time as the NFC title game, which could be Green Bay-Chicago. Plan accordingly.