#24 Iowa 82, Northwestern 61: Senior Night Smackdown

By RossWB on February 28, 2022 at 10:04 pm @rosswb
thank you, seniors
© Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK
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Senior Night was always going to be an emotional one for Iowa basketball this season, especially with two long-time Hawkeyes, Jordan Bohannon and Connor McCaffery, playing their final game before the Carver-Hawkeye faithful. We just didn't know exactly what that emotion would be -- satisfaction? relief? pride? It turns out it was giddy celebration. Iowa leapt out to a big lead over Northwestern and cruised to an easy 82-61 victory that was honestly even more lopsided than the 21-point final margin would suggest. 

Northwestern scored the first points of the night, a Pete Nance running hook shot on the Wildcats' first possession of the night. That was the only Northwestern lead of the night. Iowa scored the next nine points -- then went on a 15-4 run after that. Iowa led 24-8 with around five minutes to go in the first half, an opening stanza that was characterized by some pretty good defense... and a lot (like A LOT) of missed shots. Both sides struggled to get buckets in the first half, but the Wildcats REALLY struggled -- they ended up shooting 22% from the floor and just 18% from 3-point range in the opening half. But the Hawkeyes "only" led 36-17 at the break because they weren't shooting great themselves; they shot 35% from the field and 25% from long range. With decent shooting, Iowa could have been up by 30 at halftime. They didn't waste any time extending their advantage as the second half got underway; back-to-back six-point plays (an and-1 from Keegan Murray and three free throws from Jordan Bohannon) pushed Iowa's lead out to 25 just a minute into the half. The lead stayed around 20-25 points for the remainder of the half, which allowed Iowa to waltz to victory. 

This was far from Iowa's best effort shooting the ball -- they made just 39% of their shots in the game, including 37% of their 3-point tries (though they did go 9/19, 47%, from long range in the second half, which definitely helped them build and maintain that 20-point advantage). Even their free throw shooting was pedestrian, at 71%. But they harassed a sloppy Northwestern team into 15 turnovers, which they turned into 13 points. They also absolutely dominated the glass, out-rebounding Northwestern 50-35 overall and 19-7 on the offensive glass (which led to an 18-8 edge in second chance points). Iowa improved to 18-0 this season when they win the rebounding battle. It's wild to think about how much this team has improved on the glass this year after they got absolutely manhandled on the boards by Illinois, Purdue, and Wisconsin early in Big Ten play. This team has made a real commitment to rebounding and it's helped transform them from a team that can beat you if they get hot from deep or manage to force a lot of turnovers and get transition buckets into a team that can roll over you even if their shots aren't falling because they're rebounding the ball so well. 

Well, rebounding the ball -- and playing defense. Iowa held Northwestern to a preposterous 0.47 points per possession in the first half. And, sure, the ineptitude of the Northwestern offense (which was without star guard Boo Buie for most of the game) was a key factor in that stat; the Wildcats' ball movement was either sluggish or nonexistent and their ballhandling was very sloppy. But Iowa's defense also deserves some credit; they harassed Northwestern players into bad shots and bad decisions, cut off passing lanes, and contested shots. When Iowa plays with this sort of effort on defense and rebounds the ball like this, they become a really good team and a team that no one is going to want to play in March. 

It seemed fitting on Senior Night that the three biggest stars for Iowa were three players who (in all likelihood) won't be here next season. Keegan Murray is not a senior, but he is in the midst of a sensational sophomore season that's seen him earn Big Ten (and National) Player of the Year consideration, as well as legitimate NBA Draft Lottery buzz. No Iowa player in over 20 years has had the kind of NBA Draft decision that Keegan is likely to have when this season is over. He did nothing to diminish that buzz with his performance tonight, either -- 26 points on 9/16 shooting (5/5 in the second half), including 2/4 from 3-point range, plus 18 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. He had a double-double inside the first half. There's so much to like about Keegan's game, but I think my favorite part is how smooth he looks on those steal-and-slam fast breaks when he jumps a passing lane, grabs a steal, and slams it home. 

Just look at how smooth it all is. Beautiful. 

The other two stars for Iowa were actual seniors. Jordan Bohannon capped off six years (!) of torching nets at Carver-Hawkeye Arena with 18 points, 4 assists, and 5 (!) steals. This wasn't his most efficient night shooting the ball -- 5/14 overall, 4/11 from 3-point range -- but he made enough shots to keep Iowa's offense humming along. Bohannon kissed the tigerhawk at center court as he left the floor to a standing ovation late in the game, which seemed like a fitting way to say goodbye to a place that's truly been a home away from home for him. No Iowa player has ever played more games at CHA or made more three-pointers there than Bohannon and it's likely that no one else ever will. Thanks for the memz, JBo. 

The final star for Iowa was the other senior starter, Connor McCaffery. The elder McCaffery started in place of Patrick McCaffery, who missed the game with a minor injury, and continued his recent torrid streak from behind the arc. McCaffery finished with 17 points (two shy of his career high) on 5/10 shooting, including 5/9 from 3-point range. He's 11/15 (73%!!!) from 3-point range over the last four games, which is absolutely bonkers. But, hey, if he wants to channel Matt Gatens' end-of-career shooting numbers as his own Iowa career winds down, we're not going to complain one bit -- we're just going to root for those threes to keep dropping for a few more weeks. 

I mean, this was the kind of game where Austin Ash gets almost six minutes of run -- and drains a three-pointer FROM THE BEAK. 

The kind of game where Iowa's beloved student manager, Jack Devlin, who's also graduating this season, drains a half-court shot during a timeout -- and is immediately mobbed by the entire Iowa team.

Yeah, that kind of game. And those kind of games? Really, really fun, just like this Iowa team has been over the past four weeks. Iowa finished off February, once the most dreaded month of the calendar for Iowa basketball, with a four-game winning streak and a 7-1 record in the month. Those seven wins all came with double-digit winning margins; in fact their average margin of victory in February was a preposterous 18.3 ppg. March is where this team can really define its legacy, but they used a fantastic February to put themselves in position for a potentially memorable March. That's all we can ask for at the moment. 

NEXT: Iowa faces Michigan (15-12, 9-8 Big Ten) in Ann Arbor, MI, on Thursday, March 3 (8 PM CT, FS1). 

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