Iowa 86, Northwestern 70

Iowa beat second-place Rutgers behind a furious offensive display on Sunday. On Tuesday, Iowa beat second-place Northwestern behind another furious offensive display. Iowa topped 80 points for the 10th time in 12 home games this season, using a 47-point second half to melt Northwestern and improve to 6-5 in the Big Ten and 14-8 overall.

While the game ended as another Iowa home blowout (Iowa improved to 11-2 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena this season and the Hawkeyes have won by 10+ in nine of those 11 victories), it was a back-and-forth game for long stretches. There were eight lead changes and seven ties between Iowa and Northwestern before Iowa got the game firmly in hand in the second half. The game favored Northwestern in the early going -- in fact, the Wildcats led for most of the first half.

A 10-2 Iowa run, capped off by a Payton Sandfort three-pointer in transition, gave Iowa a 25-22 lead with eight minutes to go in the half, but Northwestern responded with a 13-1 run (aided by a technical foul on Fran McCaffery after he unleashed a bit of wrath on the officials following a pair of foul calls against the Hawkeyes) to build a nine-point lead. Iowa finished the half on a 13-4 run (including eight straight points from Kris Murray as he finally got going after a slow start) to tie the game at 39-all at halftime.

Northwestern scored the first five points of the second half but Iowa answered back and the game stayed tight with both teams trading buckets until the midpoint of the second half, when Brooks Barnhizer put-back gave Northwestern a 56-55 lead with just over 10 minutes to play. As it happened, that would be the last Northwestern lead of the game. Sandfort swished a pull-up jumper on the other end to give the lead back to Iowa, kicking off a 7-0 Iowa run that became a 14-5 run over four minutes of game action.

Still, the Wildcats were managing to keep within sniffing distance of the Hawkeyes -- until Sandfort's six-point possession (!) with 3:36 to play blew the game wide open. Sandfort hit a quick-release three, and Northwestern's Matthew Nicholson got called for a foul on the play as well. Chris Collins engaged in a little wrath of his own against the officials, which drew a technical foul and resulted in Sandfort getting three consecutive free throws (two for the technical, one for the and-1 from the foul). He drained them all and Iowa's lead ballooned to 79-65. There was no coming back from that, especially with Wildcats' shooting touch abandoning them in the final minutes.

Payton Sandfort produced another one of his microwave displays off the bench for Iowa tonight. After managing 18 points combined in Iowa's last three games, Sandfort exploded for 20 points in this game, including 14 points in the second half. His stat line was the model of efficiency as well: 6/8 overall, 5/7 from the 3-point line, 3/3 at the free throw line. He also had a team-high five assists as well as four rebounds in his 23 minutes of action. Iowa is a different team, especially on offense, when Sandfort's shots are falling like they were tonight.

Sandfort's 20-point effort matched Filip Rebraca, who finished with his 10th double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Rebraca was key for Iowa at the start of the game (he scored Iowa's first six points) and he had a personal 8-0 run in the second half that helped put momentum clearly on Iowa's side. Northwestern's interior defense had been especially good this season, but Rebraca didn't get that memo -- he diced through the Wildcats in the low post, in transition, and even on the free throw line (2/2) -- on his way to another excellent performance. He even flashed some smooth passing skills with four assists.

Three other Iowa players finished in double-figures in scoring: Kris Murray (16), Tony Perkins (12), and Connor McCaffery (11). It's always nice when Iowa can win going away without needing a big game from Murray. Murray's 3-point stroke was a little off in this game (2/7), but he compensated by going 3/4 on 2-point tries and 4/5 at the free throw line, while also grabbing eight rebounds. Perkins had some good moments of aggression and attacking the rim, which paid off with some nice layups and a 5/6 effort at the free throw line. McCaffery made a pair of three-pointers and also did damage at the free throw line, finishing 3/4 there. A box score for the game is here.

Since going 6/13 at the free throw line in a 63-61 loss at Michigan State, Iowa has gone 47/56 at the free throw line in wins over Rutgers and Northwestern. Iowa is making many (many) more trips to the free throw line than they did against the Spartans -- and they're making those trips count, too. That's a very positive trend and a great way for Iowa to find points if shots aren't falling (though that was not a problem in this game).

Northwestern ranked among the Big Ten's best in forcing turnovers in league play entering this game, taking the ball away on over 20% of opponent possessions. In the first half, their turnover-forcing prowess was on full display -- the Wildcats had six steals and forced eight Iowa turnovers and scored 10 points off those giveaways. The Wildcats were showing active hands and attacking Iowa's entry passes, leading to some good transition scoring opportunities for them.

In the second half, Iowa got that turnover problem under control -- the Hawkeyes had just five giveaways (leading to only four Northwestern points), and one of those turnovers came at the end of the game, with Iowa simply running out the clock and taking a shot clock violation. Iowa only had one other turnover after the 16:45 mark of the second half.

As well as Iowa shot the ball in this game (56% overall, 48% from the 3-point line), causing turnovers was one of the only ways Northwestern stayed in the game. Once Iowa started taking better care of the ball (and kept making shots), there wasn't much Northwestern could do to keep the game close.

The Hawkeyes close out this three-game homestand with their only game against Illinois this season, on Saturday at 1:30 PM CT on FOX. Illinois is 16-6 overall this season and 7-4, currently good for 2nd place in the Big Ten.