Josh Dix drilled a game-winning, buzzer-beating 3-pointer en route to 22 points to lift Iowa to an 80-79 victory against visiting Northwestern on Tuesday in Iowa City, Iowa.
The Hawkeyes (7-1, 1-0 Big Ten) sputtered in the second half of their conference opener before rallying, with Dix punctuating the victory with a 26-footer from just left of the key.
Payton Sandfort had 20 points and seven rebounds, while Owen Freeman (16 points) and Brock Harding (12) also finished in double figures as Iowa withstood a trio of big efforts from the Wildcats (6-3, 0-1).
Northwestern’s Brooks Barnhizer notched a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds, Ty Berry scored 20 points and Nick Martinelli added 19.
Northwestern led by as many as six down the stretch but managed only one field goal over a 1:32 stretch as Iowa whittled the deficit to 76-75 with 43 seconds to play.
A pair of Barnhizer free throws pushed the advantage back to three before a Harding layup with 15 seconds left. Harding missed a free throw and a tying three-point play, but Northwestern left an opportunity for Iowa when Berry split a pair of free throws with seven seconds left.
Harding dished a game-high eight assists.
Iowa netted a pair of layups to start the second half to take a 49-34 lead but largely went cold after that.
Sparked by a 15-1 run that featured six points from Barnhizer, the Wildcats stormed back to grab a 55-54 advantage on a Luke Hunger tip-in with 11:32 remaining.
Torrid shooting propelled Iowa in the first half. The Hawkeyes led by as many as 17 before the break, connecting on 65.4 percent of their shots, including a 6-for-11 effort (54.5 percent) from deep.
Dix tallied 14 first-half points on 6-for-9 shooting from the floor.
Iowa navigated the game with a shortened bench. Seydou Traore remained out with a sprained ankle after sustaining the injury in the first half of the Hawkeyes’ home rout of South Carolina Upstate on Nov. 26. Cooper Koch (undisclosed) also missed the game.
The Hawkeyes maintained their recent stranglehold on the series, winning for the 11th time in the past 12 meetings and the 18th in the last 22.
–Field Level Media
