Northwestern Falls To No. 10 Iowa 76-50
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Roy Devyn Marble scored 14 points and No. 10 Iowa never trailed, beating Northwestern 76-50 on Saturday.
Gabriel Olaseni had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Mike Gesell added 11 points for the Hawkeyes (16-4, 5-2 Big Ten), who avoided losing consecutive games for the first time this season after falling 75-67 at No. 21 Michigan on Wednesday. They shot 51.9 percent from the field (28 of 54) and won their fourth in five games.
Iowa, which outrebounded Northwestern 44-20, had nine players score. Marble, Iowa's leading scorer, didn't make his first field goal until 3:08 into the second half.
That was part of a 7-0 run that gave the Hawkeyes a 41-30 lead, their first double-digit advantage. Northwestern never got closer than seven points during a second half Iowa dominated 46-26.
Drew Crawford had 20 points for Northwestern (10-11, 3-5), which had won three of four.
Saturday was a rematch of the teams' Jan. 9 game in Iowa City which the Hawkeyes won 93-67 after shooting 64.3 percent during the second half. Iowa coach Fran McCaffery was suspended for that game after getting ejected during the Hawkeyes' previous game at Wisconsin.
On Saturday, McCaffery was coaching and along with Northwestern's Chris Collins wore sneakers as part of the annual Coaches vs. Cancer weekend.
That first game was a turning point for Northwestern. Including the teams' first matchup, the Wildcats started conference play 0-3 and were allowing an average of 81 points per game.
In the next four games — a stretch that included a win over then-No. 23 Illinois, a victory at Indiana and a double-overtime win over Purdue — the Wildcats only gave up 51 points per game.
Northwestern got Dave Sobolewski back after he missed four games (concussion), and had Crawford break the school record by playing in his 131st game and starting his 130th. He topped the marks set by John Shurna and Michael Thompson, respectively.
The Wildcats shot 36.4 percent from the field (20 of 55).
Unlike the first meeting, when the Hawkeyes led 41-26 at halftime, Iowa struggled to separate from Northwestern during the first half despite making 50 percent of its shots compared to the Wildcats' 31. Iowa was in front 30-24 at halftime but at one point went more than 6 minutes between baskets.
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