Jordan Bohannon
A barrage of 3-point field goals helped the University of Iowa build a 22-point first-half lead and the Hawkeyes held off Northwestern to post a 77-70 victory Sunday night on Mediacom Court.
Iowa led 18-12 when the barrage began — four straight triples in a span of 98 seconds. Sophomore Jordan Bohannon hit his first 3 at the 12:25 mark to put the Hawkeyes up 21-12. Sophomore Isaiah Moss followed with a 3 34 seconds later before Bohannon hit his second and third in a span of 40 seconds to give Iowa a 30-12 lead.
The Hawkeyes made nine 3-pointers in the first half to take a 45-28 lead into the locker room after shooting 48.1 percent. Bohannon had six 3-pointers and two free throws — tying Chris Street’s school record for consecutive makes — to give him a 20-point first half after going scoreless last week at Minnesota.
“Jordan needs to play like that,” said Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery. “I told him that. I said you have to get your swag back. He was doing a good job of running the offense (the last few games), but he needs to be aggressive like that for us to win.”
Iowa controlled the second half, pushing its lead back to 22 (50-28) on a Moss layup with 17:48 to play. The Hawkeyes led by 19 with 7:31 left before the Wildcats made a late charge.
Scottie Lindsey made his seventh and eighth 3-pointers in a 54-second stretch to cut Iowa’s lead to 73-65 with 2:44 to play. Bohannon got tangled up and was fouled on Iowa’s next offensive possession, where he went to the free throw line for a 1-and-1.
Bohannon pointed to the sky and missed the free throw intentionally.
“I left it up to him,” said McCaffery. “That’s what he chose to do, I think it’s awesome.”
Freshman Luka Garza made a jumper on Iowa’s next possession to push the lead to 10. Lindsey made his ninth 3 at the buzzer with five seconds to play.
Bohannon finished with 25 points with all seven of his field goals coming from 3-point range. He made 4-of-5 free throws and had five assists in 40 minutes. Garza finished with 18 points, sophomore Tyler Cook had 14 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double, and Moss added 12.
Lindsey led all scorers with 32 points, making 10-of-14 field goals and nine 3-pointers.