The Iowa Hawkeyes conducted clinics on three-point shooting and ball-hawking defense Saturday as they breezed to a 91-57 victory over Northwestern in Kevin O’Neill’s debut as a Big Ten coach.
Nine different Hawkeyes knocked down 15 three-pointers in 20 attempts against the Wildcats’ zone defense as Iowa, ranked No. 14, improved its record to 13-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten. NU fell to 6-4, 0-1.
The outcome was decided by halftime as the combination of 10 Iowa steals and a slowdown NU offense limited the Wildcats to 12 shots and 17 points in the first 20 minutes.
Evan Eschmeyer, NU’s 6-foot-11-inch center, led his team with 18 points.
The Hawkeyes honored some of their past basketball lettermen at halftime. When they looked at the scoreboard, some of the old-timers from the ’30s and ’40s might have thought that the Wildcats were employing an offense from their era. The Cats had only 17 points at halftime, and trailed 41-17.
The Hawkeyes went into the game with a home-court record of 7-0 and were outscoring their visitors by an intimidating 35.4 points a game (94.4 to 59.0).
In an effort to deflate these numbers, O’Neill deployed the Cats in a zone defense, and on offense he had them pass the ball until they had used up most of the 35-second shot clock on most possessions. The strategy succeeded in reducing the Hawkeyes’ scoring, but it cut into NU’s scoring even more.
With six different Hawkeyes knocking down three-pointers in the first half, coach Tom Davis’ team used the oldest, most basic method to rip up a zone–outside shooting. Three of Iowa’s first four baskets were three-pointers, two by reserves Kyle Galloway and J.R. Koch.
Meanwhile, Eschmeyer was, as usual, having trouble finding scoring support. He scored six of NU’s first seven points as the Hawkeyes took a 17-7 lead.
NU’s slowdown may have hindered Iowa’s scoring, but the Hawkeyes still played aggressive defense, making 10 steals in the first half, six by forward Ryan Bowen. The steals, coupled with NU’s slowdown, limited the Cats to 12 shots in the first 20 minutes. They made six of them.
The second half began as a rerun of the first. NU stayed in its zone. Ricky Davis squared up at the three-point line, took Iowa’s first shot of the half and knocked down the Hawks’ seventh three-pointer of the night.
Offensively, the Cats finally picked up the tempo somewhat. After an Eschmeyer basket, freshman Sean Wink shook off a scoreless first half to collect 11 points in the first 7 minutes of the second half, nine of them on three-pointers as Iowa’s lead was cut to 49-32.
