By Pat Harty

The Iowa men’s basketball team continues to surge at the right time as it defeated Northwestern 87-80 on Saturday at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston for its fourth win in its last five games.

Iowa climbed above .500 in Big Ten play for the first time this season with a 10-9 record and improved to 18-12 overall.

Iowa also picked up another Quad 1 win and improved to 6-3 since the start of February.

Northwestern fell to 20-9 overall and 11-7 in the Big Ten and lost a conference game at home for the first time this season.

The same Iowa team that started 0-3 in league play has since battled back and now has a realistic chance to make the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight season under head coach Fran McCaffery.

Iowa, which has now won at least 10 conference games in six straight seasons, will close out the regular season against second-place Illinois next Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Sophomore guard Josh Dix led Iowa with 24 points, marking the third straight game that the Council Bluffs native has scored at least 20 points. Junior forward Payton Sandfort finished with 23 points, while senior guard Tony Perkins had 10 points and 14 assists.

Fran McCaffery was asked on the Big Ten Network post-game interview what has been the key to his team’s late-season surge.

“You’ve got to be a connected group in a lot of different ways,” McCaffery said. “Made some shots early, they got a lead and we got a lead and gave it up. You stay together. Our defense was better in the second half. I thought our ball movement and our cutting has been really good, not just today, but in the recent games.

“So, if we do that, we’ve got a lot of different guys that can score. Our bench is giving us great play, and that’s what you want this time of year.”

Iowa assisted on 25 of its 33 field-goal attempts and shot 55.0 percent from the field.

“They’re a really good team, so to get this one on the road means a lot,” Dix said.

Northwestern had cut the deficit to 77-74 when Payton Sandfort drove baseline and made a traditional 3-point play with 1 minute, 9 remaining.

Iowa senior forward Patrick McCaffery then made a 3-point basket to give his team an 83-76 lead with 41 seconds left to play.

Iowa was leading 85-80 when Northwestern committed a turnover in the final seconds that turned into a breakaway dunk by graduate forward Ben Krikke to seal the win.

“Congratulations to Iowa, hard fought win for those guys,” said Northwestern head coach Chris Collins. “I felt they really played well. Dix, Perkins and (Payton) Sandfort especially, I thought those three guys were tremendous, and Krikke in the second half was really good.”

Northwestern was already without starting guards Ty Berry and Ryan Langborg due to injuries, and then lost a third starter early in the second half when center Matt Nicholson limped off the floor with an apparent ankle injury.

He didn’t return to the game.

Playing without three starters was too much to overcome as Iowa would go on to build a double-digit lead before the midway point of the second half.

The score was tied when Nicholson left the game, but then Iowa would go on a 20-9 scoring run in his absence.

But then Northwestern responded with a 7-0 scoring run and cut the deficit to 61-57 on a 3-point basket by point guard Boo Buie with 8:48 left to play.

Buie then made another three to cut the deficit to 63-60 with 8:18 remaining.

Iowa answered with a basket by Perkins, expanding the lead to 65-60, and then it came down to whether Iowa could hang on and accomplish what no other Big Ten team had accomplished this season, which is beat Northwestern on its home floor.

The Wildcats wouldn’t go down easy, however, as they cut the deficit to 67-65 before Iowa answered with a 6-0 scoring run.

Should Iowa go on to make the NCAA Tournament this season, a case could be made for this being Fran McCaffery’s best coaching performance in 14 seasons as the head Hawk.

Iowa had to replace three starters from last season, including All-America forward Kris Murray, who now plays for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Those losses combined with the poor start in Big Ten play put the team in a precarious position, but it has since dug itself out of a hole and is now peaking at the right time, much to Fran McCaffery’s credit.

The first half, which ended with Iowa trailing 37-36, was tied five times, had six lead changes, and scoring runs of 11-0 and 8-0 by Iowa and 9-0 by Northwestern.

Iowa’s largest lead in the first half was eight points (20-12), while Northwestern’s largest lead was seven points (34-27).

Payton Sandfort led Iowa in scoring in the first half with 11 points, while Buie led Northwestern in scoring in the first half with 11 points as he made all four of his field-goal attempts, including three from 3-point range.

Northwestern assisted on 12 of its 14 baskets in the first half, while Iowa assisted on 11 of its 14 baskets in the first half.

Northwestern had 14 rebounds and five turnovers in the first half, while Iowa had 12 rebounds and just three turnovers in the first half.

Northwestern had a 20-10 advantage in points in the paint in the first half, but Iowa had an 11-2 advantage in fastbreak points in the first half.

So, the game couldn’t have been much more even heading into the second half.

Neither team was in serious foul trouble heading into the second, although Iowa freshman forward Owen Freeman did have two fouls.

It was reasonable to assume that Northwestern would try to draw a third foul on Freeman early in the second half and that’s what happened as Freeman picked up his third foul barely two minutes into the half and would then go the bench for an extended period.

Freeman still led Iowa with six rebounds despite only playing 20 minutes.

Iowa also had a 29-22 advantage on the boards.