IOWA CITY, Iowa — Josh Dix swished a game-winning 3-pointer just before the buzzer to give Iowa an 80-79 victory over Northwestern on Tuesday night in a Big Ten Conference men’s basketball opener for both teams.
After Ty Berry went 1 of 2 at the free-throw line with 5.8 remaining to give the Wildcats a 79-77 lead, the Hawkeyes got it past midcourt before calling a timeout with 0.8 seconds left. Brock Harding struggled to find an open teammate from the sideline before Dix came out well past the 3-point arc to swish a fade-away 3-pointer.
Dix’s teammates raced to surround him at the other end in front of the Wildcat bench, with fans coming onto the court in celebration.
Dix finished with 22 points and Payton Sandfort had 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists for the Hawkeyes (7-1). Owen Freeman added 16 points.
Brooks Barnhizer had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats (6-3). Berry added 20 points and Nick Martinelli scored 19.
The Hawkeyes opened the game on a 13-3 run and led until the 11:32 mark of the second half when Luke Hunger capped a 15-1 run to give the Wildcats a 55-54 lead. The Hawkeyes led by as many as 17 points in the first half.
The Wildcats rallied in the second half to take a 74-68 lead with 2:15 left.
Barnhizer worked down the clock before getting fouled on a drive with 21.7 seconds left. He made two free throws to give the Wildcats a 78-75 lead. Harding made a layup at the other end while being fouled but he missed a free throw that would have tied it.
The Hawkeyes play at Michigan on Saturday. The Wildcats host No. 19 Illinois on Friday.
Loyola 76, Eastern Michigan 54
Des Watson had 24 points in Loyola’s 76-54 home win against Eastern Michigan on Tuesday.
Watson shot 8 for 12 (3 for 5 from 3-point range) and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line for the Ramblers (7-0). Francis Nwaokorie scored 11 points while going 4 of 4 (3 for 3 from 3-point range) and added seven rebounds. Justin Moore had 11 points and went 5 of 10 from the field (1 for 3 from 3-point range). It was the seventh win in a row for the Ramblers.
Christian Henry led the Eagles (5-4) in scoring, finishing with 21 points and two steals. Da’Sean Nelson added 13 points and six steals for the Eagles. Yusuf Jihad also had six points.
The Ramblers took the lead with 18:26 remaining in the first half and never looked back. Watson led their team in scoring with 13 points in the first half to help put them up 39-26 at the break. The Ramblers extended their lead to 63-41 during the second half, fueled by a 7-0 scoring run. Watson scored a team-high 11 points in the second half as their team closed out the win.
The Associated Press created portions of this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.