Northwestern
Iowa
Men's Basketball Stops No. 14 Iowa, 69-61
2/10/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) - Northwestern sure knows how to snap a losing streak.
Winston Blake scored 20 points and Jitim Young added 16 on Saturday as Northwestern stunned No. 14 Iowa, 69-61, and snapped a 32-game losing streak in regular-season Big Ten games. It also marked the second time the Wildcats have beaten a ranked team this season -- on December 27, they downed USC, 63-61.
The Wildcats (9-15, 1-10) hadn't won a regular-season conference game since beating Penn State on Feb. 6, 1999.
Collier Drayton scored nine points and had a career-high nine rebounds for Northwestern.
As the final buzzer sounded, the Northwestern fans - outmanned the entire game by the boisterous Iowa fans - rushed the floor. As Blake and coach Bill Carmody waited to do a post-game interview, several fans stood behind them, singing the school's alma mater.
This was Iowa's second game without leading scorer Luke Recker, who is out indefinitely with a fractured right knee cap. Dean Oliver led Iowa (17-6, 6-4) with 20 points and six assists, and Reggie Evans added 18 points and 14 rebounds. But it wasn't nearly enough as the Hawkeyes shot just 37 percent (22-60) for the game and were 5-of-11 from the free throw line in the first half.
Even Recker, who sat on the bench in street clothes, might not have been able to help the Hawkeyes. Not with Northwestern playing like a team possessed.
The Wildcats played a frenzied, up-tempo game, diving for every loose ball, hounding the Hawkeyes like hungry dogs, and running the floor like they were doing wind sprints.
Northwestern led almost the entire game, and held the Hawkeyes to just seven field goals over the last 12:05. If that's not impressive enough, Young and Collier Drayton played almost the entire second half with four fouls.
Tavaras Hardy picked up his fourth foul with 5:59 left and fouled out with 29 seconds left.
Iowa took a 35-33 lead, its first since the opening minute of the game, on Glen Worley's 10-foot jumper with 13:53 left to play.
But Northwestern, undersized and undermanned, refused to give up. Blake hit a 3-pointer that sparked a 17-4 run, giving the Wildcats a 50-41 lead with 7:30 left, and the Hawkeyes never got close again.
Northwestern controlled the first half, too, though Iowa made a game of it at the end. Evans hit a jumper from about 10 feet out with 2:41 left, Iowa's first bucket in almost four minutes, to cut Northwestern's lead to 24-19.
Then Kyle Galloway, who left the team before the season because of recurring back pain but returned Monday after Recker's injury, came through with a huge basket. With 57 seconds left, he drilled a 3-pointer - his first points - to cut Northwestern's lead to 26-24 at halftime.
