Hawkeyes remain tied for Big Ten lead

IOWA CITY — Iowa's double-barreled offensive attack sometimes just isn't fair for some opponents.

In the first half Sunday, Big Ten scoring leader Jarrod Uthoff torched Northwestern for 19 points. In the second, it was guard Peter Jok, who scored 22 after halftime. Together, they blasted for 49 points to lead the No. 4-ranked Hawkeyes past Northwestern 85-71 at sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

'In the first half when Jarrod was doing real well, we kept finding him and going to him whenever we could,' Jok said. 'In the second half, it was my turn. They just kept finding me.'

Uthoff struggled with nine points in his last outing Thursday at Maryland, so he added early workouts Friday and Saturday 'to get my mind right.' Uthoff hit a jumper early but misfired on three of his first four shots. Then he took over the game.

After missing a 3-pointer to open a possession, Uthoff got the ball back and drilled his next attempt to tie the game at 7-7. One series later, Uthoff launched one from about 27 feet to put Iowa up 10-7. Northwestern matched with its own 3-pointer, but Uthoff put the Hawkeyes back in the lead by dunking off teammate Nicholas Baer's miss.

'The first couple didn't feel right, but I'm like, 'The percentages don't lie. I'm going to make the next couple,'' said Uthoff, who averages 18.6 points a game. 'That's what was going through my mind. And I did, that's what got me in rhythm and I was good from that point on.'

Uthoff closed out the half strong with a pair of free throws, a basket and a free throw, then a drive for a left-handed layup. He finished with 23 points.

Then it was Jok's turn to shine. He hit only one of three shots in the first half before warming up early in the second. In a three-minute span, Jok scored 14 points, five of which came from the free-throw line. He hit three consecutive 3-pointers to take a single-digit lead to a 60-40 advantage.

Jok, who finished with 26 points, showed no hesitancy with his shot selection. Every shot he took, he liked.

'I was just aggressive,' Jok said. 'When you're hot like that, you don't want to pass up too many open shots. You've got to be aggressive. My teammates were telling me to be aggressive, and they kept finding me. They kept telling me to shoot. I'm not going to say no to that. I just kept shooting.'

It was too much for Northwestern (15-8, 3-7) to handle, which dropped its fifth straight game and the last four to ranked opponents.

'Uthoff and Jok were the two guys we wanted to be with at all times,' Northwestern Coach Chris Collins said. 'At times we did that well. I thought we did that pretty well with Peter in the first half, not so good with Jarrod; we lost him a bunch. In the second half, we lost Jok. If you're going to be competitive with a really good team, you can't let two of the top five scorers in the league combine for 50 points. It is going to make it a very tough challenge on the road.'

Iowa (17-4, 8-1 Big Ten) built its lead to 29 points inside of six minutes remaining before emptying the bench. Wildcats guard Tre Demps led all scorers with 30 points.

Iowa remains tied with Indiana (18-4, 8-1) atop the Big Ten standings entering the back half of its league schedule.

'I'm happy, but I'm never content,' Uthoff said. 'When you get content with where you're at, you start losing yourself. I think we need to keep a level head and we'll keep having success throughout the Big Ten season.'

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