Garza scores 17 as No. 5 Iowa routs Northwestern
EVANSTON, Ill. — Luka Garza had 17 points and 10 rebounds in just 24 minutes, and No. 5 Iowa rolled 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 in the Big Ten) won their fifth straight. 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 field 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 3s by Buie.
Iowa then took control with 13 straight 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, UCF 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 cruise to a 75-58 win over UCF on Sunday.
Grimes scored in double figures for his 11th straight game after opening the season with eight points against Lamar. Houston (11-1, 6-1 American Athletic
Conference) won its fourth straight game since its loss to Tulsa.
“It was a great game for us,” Houston guard DeJon Jarreau said. “Everybody came out firing. I feel like we can get way better.”
The Cougars shot 42%, including 8 of 25 on 3-pointers. Houston has made at least seven 3-pointers in four straight games.
“When we had guys with great strokes . they had a lot of good nights, but they had nights where it didn’t go in, too,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “That’s just nature of 3point shooting. As long as good shooters are putting up good shots, they will go in.”
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 straight, shot
44%, including 4 of 19 on
3-pointers. UCF went over
10 minutes without a field goal in the first half.
“They made a lot of shots to start the first half off and kind of knocked us back,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “I was disappointed. We had a game plan, a strategy, and I don’t think we executed well at all to start. We gave them some of the looks we were trying to take away. We have to be better than that.”
UCF lost to Houston for the second time this season
after falling in Orlando, 73-54, on Dec. 26.
“We played some great teams this year, and none have been even better than Houston, to be quite frank,” Dawkins said.
NO. 20 VA. TECH 64, WAKE FOREST 60
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Tyrece Radford scored 20 points to help Virginia Tech hold off Wake Fores, 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 Atlantic Coast Conference).
Hunter Cattoor added 13 points with a couple of big baskets in the final 5 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.
It wasn’t pretty much of the way for Mike Young’s Hokies, who shot 48% but had 15 turnovers while being beaten on the boards to help the Demon Deacons with extra scoring chances. They also had quiet days from top scorers Keve Aluma and Jalen Cone, who combined for one made field goal.
But they still earned their first 5-1 start in ACC play since 2007 and only their second since joining the league for the 2004-05 season.