Iowa men enjoy the spoils of playing hard

IOWA CITY - Iowa has little to play for this year outside of pride. But their effort last night against Northwestern brought extra helpings of pride to their fans and themselves.

Iowa dismantled a Northwestern team with everything on the line in every way possible. From the opening tip to an electric 3-point display, the Hawkeyes owned the Wildcats 78-65 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Northwestern (16-8, 5-7 Big Ten) sought to tie the school record for wins in a season and knot its league record at 6-6. The Wildcats were considered an NCAA Tournament bubble team, but the loss at Iowa (9-16, 3-9) seems to send Northwestern into desperation mode if it wants to make its first NCAA Tournament.

“People are probably going to say we're playing the role of spoiler a little bit, but we're just trying to go out and win,” said Iowa sophomore Matt Gatens, who led Iowa with 16 points. “We're not thinking about who's going to the postseason and who's not. When the ball's tipped you're going to go out there and play as hard as you can and play with pride and want to get the ‘W.'”

Iowa stormed to a 10-2 lead while scoring on its first four possessions. The Hawkeyes' lead never fell below seven points, and Iowa extended it to 19 points on two different occasions.

“We just got smacked really good,” Northwestern Coach Bill Carmody said. “I don't know what else to say.”

Iowa shredded Northwestern's 1-3-1 zone defense, hitting 12-of-24 3-point shots. On four straight second-half possessions four different Iowa players sank 3-pointers to keep Northwestern from mounting a serious rally.

Devan Bawinkel hit five 3-pointers for Iowa and scored 15 points. He missed his first 3-point shot, but sank his last four of the first half.

“Once I saw my first one go in, I got confidence the rest of them would,” Bawinkel said. “In the 1-3-1, we know the corner is going to be open, and I got good looks because the guys penetrated in the middle and left the corners open. I didn't really have too many guys contesting my shot.”

Iowa Coach Todd Lickliter said Bawinkel has the green light to shoot any time he's open.

“I've said all year I think we're a good shooting team,” Lickliter said. “We've struggled and our guys have stayed tough, and they continue to get shots up.”

Iowa hit 50 percent from the field and limited its turnovers to eight. Iowa out-rebounded Northwestern and held the Wildcats to 30.8 percent in 3-point shooting.

Aaron Fuller posted his fourth double-double this season with 13 points and 11 rebounds, five of which were offensive. Jarryd Cole also had 13 points and had six rebounds.

Iowa is headed for its third straight losing season. But Lickliter is impressed with his players' effort and character even with few incentives to play hard except for a victory.

“I don't think it's accidental,” Lickliter said. “Fun teams, guys who are fun to be around, who like coaching and having the right priorities, they get better,” Lickliter said. “They don't feel sorry for themselves, and they get better.

“I really like this group and I'm proud of them, and I believe in them. So I don't know if that means a whole lot to them, but I want them to know.”