Iowa Basketball Stays Hot at Northwestern
The 2023-24 Iowa Basketball season has been an emotional rollercoaster. It's been that way game to game and within those contests.
The latest trip took place Saturday in Evanston. To the delight of Hawkeye fans, the ride ended with excitement.
Iowa won, 87-80, its fourth victory in the last give games. The Quad 1 triumph improved an NCAA Tournament resume in consideration to be accepted.
Another Quad 1 opportunity arrives in next Sunday's regular-season finale against Illinois at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Win that, and it's on the right side of the bubble.
It's an impressive run for an outfit that lost its first three Big Ten contests and appeared to be in trouble multiple times. A team that couldn't have looked more disconnected in December features pieces that move as one these days.
The Hawkeyes dished out 25 assists on 33 made field goals Saturday. The dimes came with only five turnovers. They also held a 29-22 rebounding advantage.
As often happens with successful teams, Iowa has received contributions up and down the roster. It happened again against the Wildcats.
Senior guard Tony Perkins led the assist barrage, racking up 14 with only two turnovers. He loaded up Josh Dix (24 points) and Payton Sandfort (23), who combined to knock down 8 of 13 three-point attempts.
Winning squads also perform well down the stretch of games. Iowa is doing that now after coming up short in several conference contests.
The Hawkeyes closed Saturday's game on a 10-3 spurt during the final minutes and 42 seconds. Patrick McCaffery's corner trey off of a Perkins' assist (of course), represented the key bucket in that stretch.
The senior and son of head coach, Fran McCaffery, has been clutch in a smaller role than he had at the beginning of the season. The change represented the selflessness also needed when a team is clicking.
More takeaways...
-Three of Iowa's last four wins have been Quad 1. They hadn't had one before that.
As a result, more work must be done. The Hawkeyes (18-12 overall, 10-9 Big Ten) will move up from their No. 60 spot in the NET rankings, a metric-based system designed to measure the best teams. It doesn't always match the eye test.
Anyway, they likely must reach 20 victories for a chance at the Big Dance. It's hard to say with any degree of accuracy with their fate being connected to other bubble teams.
-Dix's emergence this season ranks as one of the most impressive one-year jumps we've seen around here. The sophomore reached the 20-point plateau for the third consecutive game.
A combo guard out of Council Bluffs, Dix scores on all three levels. His mid-range game is sharp and something others should mimic. Ignore the analytics in this instance.
Dix has played solid defense, too. He delivered key stops on Wildcat senior Boo Buie, even though the dynamic point guard finished with 27 points.
-Fran McCaffery played a pretty tight rotation on Saturday. Four starters logged at least 30 minutes, led by Perkins, Sandfort and Dix, all with 37.
Patrick McCaffery and Owen Freeman shared 40. Ladji Dembele received 10 with Brock Harding and Pryce Sandfort combing for nine.
The Hawkeyes should be well rested for the Illinois game. They have the next seven days off.
TIP-INS
-Eight different players scored in double figures on Saturday.
-The teams combined for 44 assists with only 12 turnovers.
-Perkins' 14 assists are tied for the fourth-most in program history.
-Sandfort hit the 20-point mark for the second game in a row and has done so a team-best nine times in '23-24.
-Iowa has had at least four players reach double digits in 19 contests this season.
