Hawkeyes roll behind Garza’s effort
NO. 5 IOWA 96, NORTHWESTERN 73
EVANSTON, Ill. — Luka Garza had 17 points and 10 rebounds in just 24 minutes, and No. 5 Iowa cruised to a 96-73 victory over Northwestern on Sunday.
Joe Wieskamp had 16 points and CJ Fredrick added 13 as the Hawkeyes (12-2, 6-1 Big Ten) won their fifth in a row. Iowa and Michigan are tied for the conference lead.
Garza, who entered averaging 27.6 points, sat out the final 12 minutes because of the lopsided score. He was 7 for 12 from the floor and scored all of his points in the first half.
“Luka was not quite as dominant as he always is,”
Wieskamp said. “But he was getting double-teamed and he was finding open guys. Teams have to respect Luka in the post. If they double team him, we have a lot of guys open.”
Pete Nance had 16 points and Boo Buie added 12 for Northwestern (6-6, 3-5), which dropped its fifth in a row.
“We knew what we were facing. They’re truly one of the elite teams,” Wildcats Coach Chris Collins said. “If you’re going to win, you have to play well on both ends and we fell short of that.”
Northwestern got off to a solid start and led 29-28 with just under eight minutes left in the first half on the strength of four three-pointers by Buie.
Iowa then took control with 13 consecutive points, six by Jack Nunge. The Hawkeyes led 49-37 at the break and opened the second half with a 13-2 run for a 62-39 advantage.
NO. 11 HOUSTON 75, CENTRAL FLORIDA 58
HOUSTON — Quentin Grimes scored 18 points, Justin Gorham added 15 points and nine rebounds and No. 11 Houston used a dominant first half to knock off Central Florida.
Houston (11-1, 6-1 American Athletic) won its fourth consecutive game since its loss to Tulsa.
The Cougars shot 42%, including 8 of 25 on three-pointers. Houston forced UCF into 20 turnovers, which the Cougars turned into 22 points.
Jamille Reynolds scored 14 points, and Dre Fuller Jr. and Darin Green Jr. each had 12 points for UCF (3-5, 1-4). The Knights, who lost their fourth in a row, shot 44%, including 4 of 19 on three-pointers. UCF went over 10 minutes without a field goal in the first half.
Houston jumped out to a 38-9 lead capped by a three-point play from
Brison Gresham with 3:43 left in the half.
The Cougars started the game with four consecutive three-pointers — two by DeJon Jarreau and one apiece from Grimes and Marcus Sasser — and hit eight of their first 10 field goals. Grimes and Sasser each had eight points in the game-opening run.
Houston led 45-19 at halftime.
NO. 20 VIRGINIA TECH 64, WAKE FOREST 60
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Tyrece Radford scored 20 points to help No. 20 Virginia Tech hold off Wake Forest, earning the Hokies’ third league win in the span of eight days.
Radford made 6 of 7 shots, then went 6 for 6 at the foul line in the final 45.4 seconds, part of a grind to the finish for the Hokies (11-2, 5-1 ACC).
Hunter Cattoor added 13 points with a couple of big baskets in the final five minutes that helped Virginia Tech stay in front, and freshman David N’Guessan also had a season-high 13 points while making all five of his shots.
Ismael Massoud scored 12 points for the Demon Deacons (3-5, 0-5),