Iowa 87, Northwestern 80: Josh Dix Keeps Hawks' Tourney Hopes Alive

EVANSTON -- Iowa took a must needed victory over Northwestern on Saturday, holding off the Wildcats for an 87-80 road win. The Hawkeyes are now 18-12 overall and 10-9 in conference games, as they look to seal a spot in the NCAA Tournament with the season winding to a close.

Here are three takeaways from the victory:

Josh Dix is becoming one of the best players in the Big Ten before our very eyes. He led Iowa in scoring with a career high 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range against the Wildcats.

"He's one of the best players in the league," Fran McCaffery said after the game. "He's proven that over this season. He's able to do it playing 37 minutes, too."

"It's my teammates and coaches trusting me," Dix added. "My bigs set a lot of good screens to get me open, and I just try to make the right read."

For the sophomore, it all started with the his first two three-pointers going down in the first half.

"[Making those shots] boosts your confidence a lot," he said. "But my teammates were just setting really good screens to get me open and Tony (Perkins) and Payton (Sandfort) were finding me."

It wasn't just the offensive side of the ball for Dix either, who also defended Northwestern's best player, Boo Buie.

"He's in great condition. Boo isn't an easy guy to guard," McCaffery said. "They're going to run all kinds of stuff to get him space. When he's in space, he's hard to cover."

Of course, Dix wouldn't say anything about his own defensive prowess in handling one of the country's top guards.

"We tried to wear him down as much as we could," Dix added. "He's a great player, so we just tried to limit his touches as much as we could, and then shut him out with the shot-clock was dwindling down."

Dix was beyond fantastic, but he certainly wasn't the only reason the Hawkeyes pulled off the victory.

Sandfort added 23 points, six assists, and five rebounds.

"We talk about his scoring, and we needed it," McCaffery said. "Payton came out and set the tone early that he was going to make shots and make plays. I like the way he mixes it up. He went coast-to-coast and finished with his left hand. That's a big-time play right there."

Perkins put up just 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting, but he was a tactician in the halfcourt, dishing out a team-high 14 assists.

"We saw it last year," McCaffery added. "He knew what he had to do going into this year. He's always been a guy who made plays for other people. I thought he orchestrated the victory going down the stretch, and that's what you have to do. You have to know and understand how to get home in a tight game like this, and that's what he does."

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Going into the game on Saturday afternoon, the Wildcats were without Ryan Langborg and Ty Berry, two of the team's top three-point shooters, each hitting triples at a 40+ percent rate.

During the game, they also lost starting center Matthew Nicholson with a foot injury.

"[It didn't impact the game much for us," McCaffery said. "(Luke) Hunger is a good player, (Blake) Preston is an experienced guy, they're going to play the same way."

Though McCaffery may tell you otherwise in order to give Northwestern's bench players credit, Nicholson's absence definitely had an impact on the game, especially his defensive presence and rebounding. Iowa out-rebounded the Wildcats 17-8 in the second half.

Buie -- who made things difficult for Dix all night with 27 points, shooting 9-of-13 from the field and going 6-of-7 from deep -- hurt his left hand after fouling Patrick McCaffery with 8:10 left in the game as well.

He ultimately had his left thumb and wrist wrapped by the Wildcat training staff before returning to the game. Then he went on to score eight of his 27 points over the ensuing eight minutes.

Though Buie is an incredible player and he stepped up given the circumstances, losing three starters was just too much for he and the Wildcats to overcome against a hot Iowa team.

Prior to the matchup in Welsh-Ryan Arena, Northwestern was undefeated at home in Big Ten play, at 8-0. Some of those wins included victories over then-No. 1 Purdue, No. 10 Illinois, and over two of the better teams in the conference, Nebraska and Michigan State.

This Iowa win over a team like, in such a tough environment, will likely do a lot for their NCAA Tournament hopes. The victory gives Iowa three Quad 1 wins for the Hawkeyes this season.

"This one probably [had more weight for us]," McCaffery said. "When you think about what that team has accomplished -- the other night [at Maryland] was an incredibly impressive win. You've got other people stepping up. (Nick) Martinelli goes for 27 on the road, and you look at (Blake) Smith tonight. He played almost 29 minutes and went 4-4."

"Those guys are playing. This is a tough group to beat, and you have to beat them. They will not turn it over, make mistakes or take bad shots. And they will compete defensively."

Up next, the Hawkeyes will take on No. 13 Illinois (22-7, 13-5 Big Ten) for the second time this season at 6 PM CT on Sunday, March 10 in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The game will be televised on FS1.

The last time these two played was on February 24 in Champaign, with the Fighting Illini taking a 95-85 victory.

"We're going to take this week and rest up," Dix said. "We'll focus on Illinois. We felt like we should've gotten them a couple weeks ago, but we're ready for a rematch."