Northwestern Beats Iowa 66-61 In OT, Snaps 10-Game Slide
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Bryant McIntosh scored 18 points and Northwestern ended a 10-game losing streak with a 66-61 overtime victory over Iowa after the Hawkeyes' Jarrod Uthoff nailed a 3 at the end of regulation on Sunday afternoon.
Tre Demps scored 16 and Alex Olah had 11 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks for the Wildcats (11-14, 2-10).
Uthoff, who scored a career-high 25 points for Iowa (15-10, 6-6 Big Ten), nailed an off-balance 3 from the wing at the end of regulation even though Vic Law was all over him. But the Wildcats scored seven straight in overtime, ending their longest slide since they dropped 12 in a row in the 1999-2000 season.
Northwestern was trailing 57-55 when Demps scored on a layup with 3:15 left to start the decisive rally. He fed Scottie Lindsey for a layup to put the Wildcats ahead with 1:29 left.
Two free throws by McIntosh made it 62-57 with 42 seconds remaining, and following a layup by Uthoff, the Hawkeyes came away empty-handed after Mike Gesell stole the ball from Demps.
Lindsey blocked a layup by Aaron White, and Alex Olah hit two free throws to make it 64-59 with 19 seconds remaining. But Iowa wasn't quite finished.
A jumper by the Gabriel Olaseni cut the lead to three with eight seconds left before Dave Sobolewski hit two free throws.
Then, Olah rebounded a missed 3 by Gesell in the closing seconds and the Wildcats hung on. Iowa coach Fran McCaffery ran over to the referees as they were walking off the court and gestured at them.
The victory was the first for Northwestern since a win at Rutgers in the conference opener on Dec. 30.
The Wildcats found the touch from the outside, hitting 9 of 20 3-pointers after making just 3 of 15 in Tuesday's blowout loss to Michigan State. Demps hit four from long range.
The Hawkeyes' NCAA hopes took a significant hit with another loss to Northwestern. They also fell to the Wildcats in the first round of last year's Big Ten tournament after pounding them twice by 26.
Uthoff was 8 of 16 from the field for Iowa, but the Hawkeyes shot just 32.3 percent overall.
White was just 1 of 12 with six points.
Even so, Iowa nearly pulled this one out thanks to a thrilling finish in regulation.
After a timeout by the Wildcats, Gesell drove up to the right and handed off to Uthoff, who managed to bury an off-balance 3 from the wing as time expired even though Law gave him no room.
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TIP-INS
Iowa: The Hawkeyes are 3-3 in Big Ten road games.
Northwestern: Coach Chris Collins' father Doug was an assistant at Pennsylvania when Iowa's Fran McCaffery played there in the early 1980s.
UP NEXT
Iowa hosts Rutgers on Thursday.
Northwestern visits Minnesota on Wednesday.
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