It was a tale of two halves inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Tuesday night.

The Iowa men’s basketball team appeared to run away with its Big Ten opener against Northwestern, but the Wildcats erased a 17-point deficit and led by two points with less than one second remaining.

But guard Josh Dix had other ideas.

The junior drained an improbable game-winning, three-pointer at the buzzer to secure an 80-79 victory.

THE SHOT ‼️@J0shDix x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/o5Z2uXJJVy

— Iowa Men’s Basketball (@IowaHoops) December 4, 2024

“I didn’t know if it was short, thought it felt short, but it was straight on,” Dix said.

“From where I stood it looked good,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery added.

First Half

Iowa began the game with a frantic pace, jumping out to a 13-3 lead off of triples from Dix, Payton Sandfort, and even big man Owen Freeman. The Hawkeyes also played tenacious defense as well, forcing the Wildcats into difficult shooting and passing lanes that resulted in two Northwestern turnovers. 

The Wildcats answered back with a couple three-pointers of their own, but Iowa continued its momentum on both sides of the court, especially when fourth-year Drew Thelwell came off the bench. It won’t show up in the stat sheet, but Thelwell’s active hands on defense disrupted several Northwestern passes and allowed the Hawks to jump out to a 24-15 lead with a little over seven minutes to go in the half. 

The defensive effort continued to ramp up from there over the next few minutes, as Iowa went into its full-court pressure, a system that led to a victory against Washington State a few weeks ago. Even without front man Seydou Traore, Thelwell and point guard counterpoint Brock Harding kept forcing Wildcat mistakes, and the Hawkeyes kept scoring. 

A transition layup from Dix forced Northwestern coach Chris Collins to burn his second timeout of the half and pushed the Iowa lead to 17, sending the crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena into a loud standing ovation. 

“Just thought they were a step quicker, Collins later recalled. “We weren’t getting back. The Iowa teams are great when you let them get out and run and score and transition, and we were letting them do that in the first half.”

Steal, bucket, steal, bucket! 🔂#Hawkeyes

pic.twitter.com/J9WszK736B

— Iowa Men’s Basketball (@IowaHoops) December 4, 2024

The Wildcats fought back with a late surge, but the Hawkeyes maintained a 45-34 edge at the break.

Second Half 

The Hawkeyes kept their foot on the gas to begin the second half, forcing a pair of Wildcats turnovers that led to easy buckets on the offensive end to maintain their 11-point edge. But Northwestern wouldn’t go away quietly, and took advantage of several Iowa mistakes to cut the Iowa lead down to just five points. 

The Wildcats grabbed the lead on the next possession, and it was game on from there. Both head coaches were not pleased with the officiating, as there were several close foul calls against either team.

The Hawkeyes continued to play sloppy with the basketball, and Northwestern began to attack the offensive glass and snagged several key second chance points to build a 63-61 edge with 7:43 to play.

The game was a back-and-forth affair from there, as both teams continued to punch each other in the mouth inside the paint, especially Northwestern junior forward Nick Martinelli. Martinelli led the Wildcats to a six-point edge with a little over two minutes to play, and some fans began heading for the exits.

But the Hawkeyes weren’t done.

Iowa began to drive the ball inside, and that strategy resulted in four and-one opportunities down the stretch. Despite the help from Northwestern, the Hawkeyes hurt themselves by missing each ensuing free throw. That was a common theme on the night, as Iowa went went only 11-for-19 from the charity stripe.

Free-throw shooting has been a useful tool for past Hawkeye squads, but it has been an issue this season. Iowa has made around 69 percent of its attempts from the line this season, a number that will have to change if it wants to return to the NCAA Tournament.

“I can’t say enough about our team’s resiliency,” McCaffery said. “We’ll learn from it.”

“We were making characteristic mistakes and all sorts of stuff, but it’s a lot easier to wait to learn from a win,” Sandfort said.  “We’re happy, and we’ll just keep getting better.”

Up next 

The Hawkeyes will return to action on Dec. 7 for a road contest against the Michigan Wolverines, who are currently 6-1 on the season. The Wolverines will take on Wisconsin tonight before their clash with Iowa on Saturday. 

Tipoff is set for 1 p.m on FS1 at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.