Efficient shooting and ball security have boosted Iowa to a five-game winning streak entering Sunday’s game against Northwestern in Iowa City, Iowa.
A road trip to Oregon and Washington last week showcased the trends anew, as the Hawkeyes combined to shoot 59.3% with only nine turnovers.
“We’ve got unselfish kids,” Iowa coach Ben McCollum said. “We’ve been working on it constantly. Just our drive to the basket reads and coming to stops and attacking when we don’t have a ball screen — those kind of things.”
Iowa (17-5, 7-4 Big Ten) is looking for its 11th straight home win against Northwestern. To get there, the Hawkeyes figure to be reliant on top scorers Bennett Stirtz (19.2 points per game), Tavion Banks and Alvaro Folgueiras while reading and reacting to create opportunities for the rest of the rotation.
“We’re just taking what the defense gives us,” Stirtz said. “Sometimes, they take away (Folgueiras). Sometimes, they take away the pocket. Sometimes, they take away me or the shooter. So it’s different every game because we see a lot of different coverages. But it’s the coaches’ job to put us in the right positions and just us adapting.”
Northwestern (10-13, 2-10) will aim to be more competitive than its most recent game as the Wildcats conclude a two-game road trip. Fifth-ranked Illinois thumped the Wildcats 84-44 on Wednesday, limiting Northwestern to 29.2% shooting that included a 4-for-25 effort from long range.
“Right now, we’re struggling. We’re playing a lot of young kids that aren’t really ready for this level right now,” Wildcats coach Chris Collins said. “Sometimes, you’ve got to take some lumps and go through it to figure things out.”
Collins is calling on newcomers including Tyler Kropp, Tre Singleton and Jake West — all freshmen who started against Illinois — to be more resilient, especially in games when the team slumps from the floor from the outset.
Wednesday’s contest fit that bill.
With Big Ten leading scorer Nick Martinelli limited to four points amid swarming defense from the Illini, Collins pledged to help Martinelli “get his pop and verve back.”
“The last couple games, I’ve felt like he’s played a little bit tired, and that’s on us,” Collins added. “We can help. And we need some of those guys to help him, too, because he’s seeing two and three guys on every possession.”
–Field Level Media
