Hawkeye hold-up
Game-turning technical foul at Iowa leads to first conference loss of season for Wildcats
Game-turning technical foul at Iowa leads to first conference loss of season for Wildcats.
Iowa City, IOWA — Northwestern’s three-game winning streak to start Big Ten play ended Tuesday night with an 87-72 loss at Iowa.
But in a conference brimming with talent, the No. 19 Wildcats (6-2, 3-1) won’t wallow in the defeat.
“Before we came into this four-game little gauntlet over 10 days, if you told me I would have come out of it 3-1, I would have been very happy,” coach Chris Collins said. “Obviously, with 3-0 you get greedy and want to get the fourth one.”
The Wildcats led 8-2 early and stayed within reach of the No. 10 Hawkeyes, trailing 63-60 with 10 minutes, 41 seconds remaining.
Northwestern lost momentum down the stretch after a controversial technical foul, and Iowa continued to hit dagger shots.
Pete Nance scored a careerhigh 21 points, making 9 of 15 shots, to lead Northwestern.
Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon was unstoppable with 24 points, including 6-of-9 3-point shooting. C.J. Fredrick scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half.
“We could just never get that last push,” Collins said.
Here are three takeaways from Northwestern’s loss.
1. The technical foul spelled doom: It felt like Northwestern needed one big shot or one big stop to get over the hump in the final 9 minutes.
Instead, things unraveled after momentum shifted following a technical foul on Pete Nance, who went up for a block. He appeared to say a few choice words and was immediately whistled for the technical as the Wildcats trailed 65-60.
Jordan Bohannon made the two free throws and Iowa maintained possession. On an inbounds play, Bohannon found Luka Garza under the basket with a bounce pass, and Garza converted with one second on the shot clock.
Garza then blocked a jumper by Robbie Beran and made a step-back jump shot on the other end for a 71-60 lead. Just like that, Iowa was safely in control.
“We could just never really recover from that,” Chris Collins said in a postgame video conference with reporters. “It was on the other end. I didn’t even hear it, so it wasn’t that loud. But obviously something was said.”
Collins praised the experienced officiating crew while noting it was a “key point in the game.”
“You have to go with that,” he said. “It is what it is.”
Without fans in Big Ten arenas, Collins said players must be more cautious about verbalizing their emotions.
“It’s a learning moment,” he said. “With not many people in the arena, you’ve just got to be really careful about the things you say because the referees are going to catch everything that they might not normally catch if it’s a really loud, packed house in a game like that.”
2. Luka Garza’s streak stopped. And it didn’t matter: Luka Garza’s 18-game streak of scoring 20 or more points in Big Ten games finally came to an end. The Wildcats double team held him to six first-half points and 18 for the game on 6-of-14 shooting.
But he still had an impact.
“He affects your defensive game plan greatly because he’s unstoppable in a one-on-one situation,” Chris Collins said. “You not only have to account for his low-post touches, but he shoots the ball so well. His pick-and-pops, his step-up ball screen, he requires a lot of attention or else he’s going to make you pay in a big way.
“We knew he was going to score. You don’t hold someone like that scoreless. You just don’t want him to go 12-for-14 like he has many times.”
It was Iowa’s guards who did the most damage, proving the Hawkeyes are a multi-weapon team.
Jordan Bohannon scored 19 points after halftime, making 5 of 6 3-pointers in the second half.
“It feels like I’ve coached against him for 100 years,” Collins said. “He’s a terrific player. He’s a big key to what they’re doing.”
3. Pete Nance had his night: Junior forward Pete Nance has played more consistently this season, hitting 55.4% of his field goals. He had a standout performance against Iowa with a career high in points.
Nance scored the Wildcats’ first eight points, hitting a pair of 3-pointers, and finished the first
half with 17 points.
“We just felt like if they were going to put (Luka) Garza on Pete, we felt like that could be a matchup because he’s so good offensively just to make him play out on the floor a little bit and guard some drives and pick-and-rolls and pick-and-pops,” Chris Collins said. “Pete made some shots early, which helped get us off to a good start.”
Chase Audige added 14 points, while Miller Kopp chipped in with 11.
Boo Buie shot 1 of 8 for two points but had six rebounds and eight assists.
“There’s going to be nights as a point guard you have to be a distributor,” Collins said. “But he didn’t shoot it as well tonight. He’ll be better. You’re not going to play great all 20 games in league. The way he’s playing, there’s heavy emphasis on him.”
Having offensive options is a positive for the Wildcats, who shot 11 of 25 on 3-pointers.
“We feel like we have balance like that and we hope we can be a team that’s tough to prepare for,” Collins said. “That’s one thing we feel can be a real key to our team, our balance and where it’s not a one-man show.”
They’ll need everyone clicking Sunday when they play at No. 16 Michigan.