Iowa
Iowa basketball vs. Northwestern is crucial step in Hawkeyes’ path to Big Ten Tournament
Video: Fran McCaffery on why every team should make Big Ten Tournament
Fran McCaffery discusses a variety of topics ahead of Iowa’s matchup with Northwestern.
IOWA CITY — Iowa basketball’s season was in a dramatically different place the last time it faced off against Northwestern.
Their first meeting this season, which came back on Dec. 3, 2024, ended in theatrics. Down by two with less than one second remaining, Josh Dix’s long-range 3-pointer splashed through the net to deliver a dramatic victory.
With the win, Iowa improved to 7-1 on the season, including 1-0 in Big Ten play. There was still plenty of optimism surrounding what the Hawkeyes could accomplish. At least for one night, Iowa seemed like a team of destiny.
A lot has changed since then.
Iowa and Northwestern will play for the second time this season on Friday. This time, in Evanston, Illinois. The tenor of Iowa’s season is drastically different than it was after that December matchup.
The Hawkeyes (15-13, 6-11) have seen their season take a plunge. Since those back-to-back wins over Nebraska and Indiana, Iowa is just 3-9 over its last 12 games. Barring an improbable run, making the NCAA Tournament is not in the cards for the Hawkeyes.
The more relevant picture is that of the Big Ten Tournament. Friday’s matchup with Northwestern will be crucial to Iowa’s chances of making the event, which includes 15 of the league’s 18 teams.
Here is a look at the bottom of the Big Ten standings, as of Friday morning:
- Nebraska (7-10)
- Rutgers (7-11)
- Minnesota (6-11)
- Northwestern (6-11)
- USC (6-11)
- Iowa (6-11)
- Penn State (5-13)
- Washington (4-13)
Iowa is currently in a four-way tie with Minnesota, Northwestern and USC. But the Hawkeyes can gain some separation from the Wildcats with a win on Friday. If Iowa loses, it would face even more uncertainty.
After Friday’s contest, Iowa hosts Michigan State, who is in the race to win the Big Ten regular-season title. Then the Hawkeyes play at Nebraska, which doesn’t provide much hope, given Iowa’s shortcomings on the road.
That raises the stakes for Friday’s contest at Northwestern.
Scouting Northwestern basketball
Friday will be a clash between two depleted teams.
Iowa is without Owen Freeman for the rest of the season after the big man underwent finger surgery. Drew Thelwell has been in and out of the lineup recently due to an ankle injury, but Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said he expects Thelwell to play on Friday.
Northwestern hasn’t avoided an unfavorable injury situation, either. Brooks Barnhizer and Jalen Leach are both out for the season, both of whom were starters when healthy. Barnhizer was among the best players in the league, averaging 17.1 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. Meanwhile, Leach packed another scoring punch, averaging 14.3 points per game.
Despite the injury situation, Northwestern has actually found success recently. The Wildcats enter Friday’s matchup off back-to-back road wins, the first of which came in blowout fashion over Ohio State.
The Wildcats are spearheaded by leading scorer Nick Martinelli (20.1 points per game) and sharpshooter Ty Berry. But they’ve also gotten contributions from a supporting cast that includes emerging freshman K.J. Windham.
Northwestern features one of the better defenses in the league by points allowed per game, which could present a challenge for Iowa’s offense. Without Freeman, the Hawkeyes are even more reliant on Payton Sandfort and Dix to score. If they don’t play like stars, Iowa’s offense can suffer.
That was on display in Iowa’s 20-point loss to Illinois on Tuesday. Sandfort and Dix combined for just 18 points as the Hawkeyes scored a season-low 61 points. That came after Illinois had given up at least 95 points in each of its previous two contests.
Update on Owen Freeman’s injury recovery
Freeman is not playing for the remainder of the 2024-25 season. The big man will finish his sophomore campaign averaging 16.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game in 19 appearances.
After undergoing finger surgery in early February, Freeman is in recovery mode.
“He was actually shooting (Wednesday),” McCaffery said of Freeman. “So he was able to catch the ball, shoot the ball. It’s coming well. It’s one of those things where essentially it’s a 2-3 month rehab before you can go out and compete and risk somebody chopping your hand and getting similar situations to happen before it completely heals. But he’s progressing well.”
Iowa vs. Northwestern prediction
Friday is Iowa’s best opportunity to pick up a win for the remainder of the regular season, though KenPom only gives the Hawkeyes a 30% chance. The Michigan State and Nebraska games trail just behind. That’s pretty revealing about what Iowa faces the rest of the way. The Hawkeyes could really use a bounce-back performance from Sandfort on Friday, who was just 2-of-10 from the field against Illinois.
For a team whose resilience is one of its redeeming qualities, Friday should be another test to Iowa’s character with its Big Ten Tournament life hanging in the balance and considering the team’s road struggles this season. Sandfort described Iowa’s victory over Rutgers on Feb. 12 as a “culture win.” Friday has a chance to be another. Iowa 81, Northwestern 77.
Follow Tyler Tachman on X @Tyler_T15, contact via email at ttachman@gannett.com
The Iowa high school boys tennis season wrapped up with the crowning of two team state champions.
Waukee Northwest claimed its second-straight Class 2A title while Cedar Rapids Xavier kept its stellar spring rolling with a Class 1A team championship.
The Wolves were right at home in Class 2A, with the tournament taking place quite literally on the program’s home courts at Waukee Northwest. They made quick work of Dowling Catholic in the first round, claiming a 5-0 win. In the semifinals, Northwest took down Iowa City West by the same score. That set up a state title matchup against Cedar Rapids Prairie, which took down Linn-Mar and Pleasant Valley en route to the title match.
In the state finals, Northwest finished off the tournament, winning 5-1 to win another state crown.
Over in Iowa City, where the Class 1A tournament was taking place, Xavier continued its dominance. The Saints took down Boone, 5-0, in the quarterfinals and then cruised past Decorah, 5-0, to reach the title match. There, Xavier faced its toughest challenge, a battle with Dubuque Whalert.
The Saints put the finishing touches on a special boys season by claiming a 5-3 win. Xavier also won the boys singles and doubles titles on May 28. The win on June 4 marks the fifth team state championship in the last six tries for the Saints. Xavier also won titles in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. The IHSAA did not hold a tournament in 2020.
EXIRA, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa Capitol Bureau) – Some western Iowa towns are under boil water advisories. Residents haven’t been able to drink straight from the tap for about two weeks now. Democratic candidate for Governor Rob Sand stopped in to talk to residents of one town.
Tuesday morning, residents in Exira got notice that it’s okay to drink water from the tap again, ending weeks of having to boil water. The Regional Water Rural Water Association says the root of the issue is loss of pressure from high demand.
City Clerk Meg Anderson says they’re exploring alternative water supplies, but they’re beholden to a contract with the utility.
“We hope that we can constructively work together and negotiate something moving forward, but if we can’t, we will pursue those legal options if we need to,” she said.
She says people in town have been resilient, but the outages have had an impact.
“We had restaurants who had to amend their hours or change their menus because they couldn’t use their ice or soda fountains or accrue additional costs. Or businesses who may have had loss of revenue because, you know, they can’t shampoo every customer who comes in the door to get a haircut,” she said.
Rob Sand, Democratic candidate for Governor, stopped in to talk to residents Tuesday.
“State government needs to do more to pay attention to issues like this that maybe don’t affect people that state government this necessarily are important but they should be listening to them because they affect Iowans,” he said.
Sand says there’s likely no silver bullet to solve the town’s water issues and he didn’t offer any solutions of his own, but says lawmakers should’ve worked together this session to address it.
“Hey, we have people over here in this region that don’t have water right now. Here are the statutes that are standing in their way and here are the exceptions we’re going to build into them for situations like this, right. Did that happen? No,” he said.
Mayor Mike Huegerich says demand for water goes up in the summer months, and he’s concerned boil water advisories could come back.
“We’re not out of the woods by no means for this, I mean. They keep saying we need the rain, well it’s raining today, but we need a lot of rain to make up the difference,” he said.
A new connection with a water source in Council Bluffs should relieve their issues but town leaders are skeptical it’s a permanent fix.
Residents in Exira, Earling, and Brayton no longer have to boil their water but people who live in Panama, and Portsmouth still do.
—
Conner Hendricks covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email him at conner.hendricks@gray.tv; and follow him on Facebook at Conner Hendricks TV on X/Twitter @ConnerReports, and on TikTok @ConnerReports.
Copyright 2025 KCRG. All rights reserved.
QUAD CITIES, Iowa/Ill. (KWQC) – More than 2,000 people are without power in the Iowa Quad Cities.
According to MidAmerican Energy, 2,092 people have lost power in the Iowa Quad Cities and 275 people have lost power in the Illinois Quad Cities as of around midnight.
This is a developing story. KWQC will provide updates on-air and online.
Copyright 2025 KWQC. All rights reserved.
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