Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said Josh Dix’s game winning buzzer beater looked good from the minute he let the shot fly as the Hawkeyes downed Northwestern in both teams Big Ten opener, 80-79.
The Hawks grabbed the opening tip-off and didn’t look back. Freeman opened the scoring by driving the lane for 2 on the opening possession. Iowa’s Freeman, Payton Sandfort, and Dix lead the early scoring with an 8 point run early in the first half. While Northwestern improved throughout the period, their shots just wouldn’t fall. After four minutes and similar shot counts, Iowa was shooting 60% to Northwestern’s 17%.
The rest of the first was more Iowa domination. Iowa’s Dix had fans on their feet with 5 minutes left in the first scoring a layup, followed by a steal and fast break for another layup. The Iowa fans also expressed their distaste for lack of an over and back call against Northwestern with the official claiming it was kicked. That didn’t seem to matter one bit though as the Hawkeyes led in every single category except free throw shot percentage. Northwest did seem to hit more shots at the end of the first as the Hawkeyes seemed to tire but it was too little too late with the Hawks leading at the half 34-45.
The Wildcats came to play in the second half and started by flipping the script on the Hawks. Gameplay started with a significantly more physical defense out of Northwestern with both teams repeatedly putting bodies on the floor. Iowa started with 4 points early in the second but Northwestern began to take off after that including a hard block and a dunk. Iowa had a few turnovers early and Northwestern went on a 13-2 scoring run. With 11:32 left, Northwestern took the lead 55-54 for the first time in the game.
From that point forward, every point scored was fought for on both sides with Northwestern outshooting Iowa. Trading baskets and leads was the theme for a while. It seemed the Wildcats physical defense began to get a little sloppy as they wore down causing them to put Iowa in the bonus with 9 minutes left to play. Iowa wasn’t far behind on team fouls either with Dix being assessed a flagrant foul after video review at 6 minutes putting Northwestern with a 64-61 lead after the Hawks failed to score for over three minutes. Payton Sandfort tied it at 64 with a 3 as he continued to hit key shots and keep Iowa in the game. Northwestern returned fire with a 3 of their own. Iowa was having accuracy problems shooting around 35% for most of the second half. Points were traded but Northwestern just didn’t want to give away their lead maintaining it for 8 minutes.
Both teams kept the window open with missed shots and foul calls and kept fans on the edge of their seats. The Hawks tried to come back with Dix getting a layup and one, followed by Freeman with a layup and missed free throw. Iowa managed to cause a jump ball while on defense at 52 seconds to reclaim the ball and possession with Harding getting 2 points for 76-75 Northwestern. Fans were on their feet, but the foul theme continued with an Iowa defensive foul putting Northwestern’s Barnhizer on the line securing 2 more points for a 78-75 Wildcat lead. Somehow Iowa’s Harding managed to get an and one with 15 seconds left but missed the shot leaving Northwestern with the lead 78-77. Iowa was forced to foul with 7 seconds left but Northwest missed the second shot and an Iowa rebound put the Hawks down 79-77 with possession and 5.8 seconds left to play. Iowa passed it down the court but a whistle stopped play with 0.3 seconds left. The clock was reset to 0.8., Hawks inbounded to Dix who immediately hit a 3 pointer at the buzzer for a Hawks win. Northwestern led for 8:29 in the second half but less than a second changed the outcome of the game and put fans on their feet. What was a tale of Hawk domination ended in a win but not without a hard fought battle.