Iowa-Northwestern Meet in Important Matchup

Hawkeyes Head to Evanston Sunday for B1G Showdown

Iowa’s Filip Rebraca shoots against Northwestern’s Ty Berry (3) and Tydus Verhoeven (10) on Jan. 31, 2023 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

The Big Ten men’s basketball race has tightened with the recent struggles of conference leader Purdue, and suddenly Iowa is among those in the upper half of the league.

The Hawkeyes, 17-9 overall, are at 9-6 in the Big Ten with five games to play, starting the weekend in a three-way tie for third place with Maryland and Indiana and one game behind Northwestern, Sunday’s road opponent in a 5:30 p.m. game.

Iowa owns the tiebreaker with almost everyone around them — the Hawkeyes have beaten Maryland and Illinois (tied for fifth with Michigan State) and won’t see either again, have a home win over Indiana, and have a home win over Northwestern.

The closing days of the regular season have a lot at stake when it comes to the standings.

“I want it to be fun for the players,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said on Saturday when previewing the game against the Wildcats (19-7, 10-5). “For the coaching staff, it's our job. We just keep grinding and try to do everything we can to help put these guys in a position to be successful.”

Iowa plays three of its last five games on the road, and McCaffery hopes his players appreciate the pressure and what they’re playing for in these last games.

“You've been to a number of road games, you know what that means,” he said. “But not everybody gets a chance to do that. They have to perform under pressure, they have to perform with a great deal of scrutiny. But they get to do that with their best friends and competing is something that you have to embrace. Because if you didn't, you wouldn't be at this level.”

Northwestern is the hottest team in the conference, carrying a four-game winning streak that includes back-to-back home wins over top-ranked Purdue and 14th-ranked Indiana.

The Wildcats are second in the conference in scoring defense, allowing just 61.9 points per game.

“I think it's nothing more than a focus,” McCaffery said. “They really put a lot of emphasis in it. They're over toward the ball, they’re doubling hard in the post. IThey're flying around. They're really committed to it. And they've got really good players. They have veteran guys, a really great coach. And they're buying in and they're connected.”

Boo Buie leads the Wildcats in scoring at 16.9 points per game. Chase Audige is second at 15.1 points. But both players also are 1-2 on the team in assists — Buie has 115 and Audige has 76.

“They're coming at you to score, but they both can make plays for other people,” McCaffery said. “But those guys, they're attacking you and they're trying to get buckets and they both can score in a variety of ways.”

Iowa caught the Wildcats at the end of a four-games-in-eight-days stretch at the end of January after Northwestern had to postpone the earlier scheduled game against the Hawkeyes because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the program.

Now the Hawkeyes get them battling for position with a crowded leaderboard around them.