Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Iowa
Men's Basketball Takes Down No. 17 Iowa, 63-50
1/19/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan 19, 2002
EVANSTON, Ill. - Both coaches looked into the future in Saturday night's men's basketball game between Northwestern and Iowa. The Wildcats' Bill Carmody saw good things, while all the Hawkeyes' Steve Alford saw was trouble.
Winston Blake scored 16 points and Jitim Young added 13 as Northwestern stymied No. 17 Iowa, 63-50, in men's basketball action at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
"Maybe I saw it coming earlier in the year, but I knew inside these guys could play this well," Carmody said. "We just had to get the players to recognize it themselves."
The Wildcats (10-6, 2-3 Big Ten), who never trailed and led by as many 20 points, posted their second win of the week after beating Michigan on Wednesday. It marked the second straight year that Northwestern has hosted and defeated a ranked Iowa team: last year, the Hawkeyes came to Welsh-Ryan Arena ranked 14th before the Wildcats pinned a 69-61 loss on them.
It was also the first back-to-back home wins for Northwestern over Iowa since 1967 and 1968.
"I think making a couple baskets early really got me going," said Northwestern center Aaron Jennings, an Iowa native who was a huge spark with eight points and a season-high eight rebounds. "Coach talked to us and told us to come out with a lot of intensity, and how we really needed to play well at the same time."
The game was a milestone for senior Tavaras Hardy, who became the seventh NU player in history to start his 100th game. The forward celebrated by scoring 10 points and snaring six boards. NU's other senior, Collier Drayton, matched a season high with eight assists to go with six points.
The Hawkeyes (13-7, 2-4), victims of long scoring droughts and numerous miscues in their lowest-scoring game of the season, had beaten Northwestern 70-60 just 10 days earlier.
But Iowa has lost four of five, and Alford threatened to bench his entire starting five if they don't fix what's wrong in practice the next two days.
"We're definitely overrated," said Alford, whose starters were 8-of-35 from the field. "All I can tell you is, Ryan Hogan (10 points) will be in the lineup come Tuesday night. What happens the next two days will determine the other four spots.
Northwestern used the same formula that propelled it to victory Wednesday at Michigan. The Wildcats did not allow Iowa to score a field goal until 6:25 had elapsed in the game and scored six of the game's first seven points. Iowa drew within two points at the midway point of the half, but a 13-3 NU run kept the Hawkeyes at bay, and the Wildcats went into the locker room with a 34-20 lead.
The second half picked up where the first left off, as Northwestern extended its lead to as much as 20 (63-43) en route to the victory.
Iowa's Reggie Evans had 14 points and 17 rebounds but was only 8-of-18 at the foul line. The Hawkeyes were 15-of-32 in free throws and shot just 30.8 percent from the field, just more than half the percentage they shot at Iowa City 10 days ago (60.0).
Portions of this story were excerpted from the Associated Press account of the game
