Northwestern stuns Iowa in OT

EVANSTON, Ill. - Another tight, competitive Big Ten contest, and another tight, competitive loss for the Iowa men's basketball team.

The Hawkeyes (15-10, 6-6 Big Ten) continued their trend of single-digit misery in Big Ten play, this time 66-61 in overtime at Northwestern on Sunday. Over the last three years, Iowa is 9-20 against Big Ten competition in games decided by single digits. Iowa led in the second half in every single-digit loss this year and in six of those losses last year.

While there is history in the Hawkeyes' misfortune, Sunday's failure was a game-long phenomenon. Northwestern, which ended a 10-game league losing streak, executed its offense with precision in the first half. The Wildcats (11-14, 2-10 Big Ten) built a 10-point lead with 7:17 left in the half, hit six of 12 3-point attempts and had nine assists on 10 baskets.

Iowa's offense struggled to keep up. The Hawkeyes shot 34.6 percent in the half and scored just 15 points until a basket from Mike Gesell with 3:35 until halftime.

'We let them get confidence right from the get-go,” Gesell said. 'Then they started knocking down shots and then we found ourselves in a dogfight. A team like that you've definitely got to get on them early.”

'We didn't start the game with enough fight, and they came out right on top of us,” Iowa forward Jarrod Uthoff said. 'They had all the energy, they had all the momentum. They just got after us.”

Despite the game's obvious physical nature, Northwestern wasn't called for a foul from the 15:58 mark of regulation until Iowa's first overtime possession. That helped Northwestern overpower Iowa in the paint in both points (18-12) and rebounds (39-38). The Wildcats blocked 12 Iowa shots and frustrated Iowa forward Aaron White into a 1-for-12 performance. Iowa center Adam Woodbury missed all five of his shots and was 3 of 8 from the free-throw line. Iowa was 13 of 20 from the free-throw line.

'We didn't establish anything at the rim offensively,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'It was all jump shots.

'We got it to the rim a couple of times and got fouled and didn't make free throws. A couple of calls, I think Whitey thought he got fouled and wasn't. It doesn't matter what happened. It was we didn't finish at the rim, we didn't establish our ability to score at the rim pretty much the whole game.”

Woodbury played 28 minutes, including a stretch from the 7:12 mark until 11 seconds left, and grabbed two rebounds. Then he opened the overtime frame until 1:03 remained. Iowa senior center Gabe Olaseni played 15 minutes and had two baskets - including a power dunk over Northwestern forward Sanjay Lumpkin - and pulled down three rebounds.

With the game tied 57-57 in overtime, Woodbury couldn't finish a dunk and was fouled by Lumpkin. Woodbury then missed both free throws.

'I thought Woodbury was playing well, particularly at the defensive end, and that's where I lean in that case,” McCaffery said. 'I thought against the zone he was doing everything right. It's easy to look back now and say we didn't finish some plays and missed free throws.”

Still, Iowa nearly pulled out the game. Iowa guard Josh Oglesby hit back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second half to give the Hawkeyes their first lead at 38-36. Then Uthoff, who scored a game-high 25 points, scored eight straight points for Iowa to push the lead to 46-41.

Northwestern battled back. Guard Tre Demps hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, including the second at the end of the shot clock, to regain the lead. Northwestern led 52-48 with 19.2 seconds left, the Uthoff buried a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one point. After two Northwestern free throws, Uthoff sent the game into overtime with another 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left.

The Hawkeyes led twice in overtime, but shot just 2 of 13 from the field.

'They're as down as anybody,” McCaffery said. 'Even though they were two losses, we had two chances to win. We were in position to win both games, and that's sometimes more frustrating than when you get drilled.”

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