Northwestern 89, Iowa 54: 3 Takeaways, Highlights

EVANSTON, Ill. -- The Iowa men's basketball team was crushed Sunday night at Northwestern, 89-54.

Here are three quick takeaways from the game.

1. Ouch

There's very little an objective observer can take away from Iowa's 89-54 loss to Northwestern on Sunday that would be productive.

The Hawkeyes were out-performed from every angle, and took their worst loss to the Wildcats in program history – and the teams have been playing since the early 1900s.

After a win against Purdue on Thursday, it seemed Iowa had turned something of a corner. That regressed big time on Sunday.

2. Regression on Defense

Iowa had appeared to make great strides in locating shooters, rotating in zone and helping on backside defense.

Against Northwestern, all three looked like they did against Virginia, Omaha and the Big Ten opener against Purdue.

The Wildcats outscored Iowa 42-18 in the paint, outrebounded the Hawkeyes 39-24 and shot 11 of 24 from 3-point range.

3. Kriener the Bright Spot

If there was one thing the Hawkeyes could take away that was a legit positive, it was the play of freshman forward Ryan Kriener, who finished the game with a career-high 14 points on 6 of 7 shooting.

He didn't play much from the post, but was effective in taking Northwestern's big guys out of the lane while cashing in on jumpers.

His play Sunday, combined with what he did against Purdue, should earn him plenty of minutes going forward.