Josh Dix’s last-second bomb puts the Hawkeyes over Northwestern 80-79

IOWA CITY – It was the smartest timeout Payton Sandfort ever took. It was the biggest shot Josh Dix ever made.

It was the best Big Ten opener the Iowa men’s basketball team has ever played, at least in the last four years.

Junior guard Josh Dix hit a last-second 30-foot 3-pointer to give the Hawkeyes a stunning 80-79 victory over Northwestern. It was Iowa’s first win in a league opener since 2020 and its first win in a Big Ten game in December in the last eight tries.

The Hawkeyes are 7-1 overall and Northwestern is 6-3.

Iowa called a timeout with eight-tenths of a second left, the ball was in frontcourt and the Hawkeyes trailed 79-77. More specifically, Hawkeye senior forward Payton Sandfort called it.

“Things weren’t looking good with what we were going to do,” Sandfort said.

“Honestly, I thought we had more time, but we didn’t need more time, so we’re good.”

6-foot-2 Iowa guard Bryce Harding, pursued by Wildcats 7-footer Keenan Fitzmorris, shot the ball near the scorer’s table. The first choice was Owen Freeman, who was well protected from pain, so Harding got the ball to Dix, who botched the miss from about 30 feet out.

“From my perspective,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said, “it looked good when it left his hand.”

“It felt good,” Dix said. “I didn’t know if it was short though. It may have felt like it was short, but it felt like it was straight.”

He said he doesn’t work on deep fadeaway jumps in practice. “I think Fran would probably be mad at me if I did.”

The shot ended a game of Jekyll and Hyde. Iowa played a good, upstanding game in the first half, making 65.4 percent of its shots and building a 45-34 halftime lead that was as high as 17 points.

Things got even more brutal in the second half as Northwestern played at its tempo, got great looks at the basket and smashed Iowa on the boards. Brooks Barnhizer, Nick Martinelli and Ty Berry, all key players on the Wildcats’ 2024 NCAA Tournament team, combined for 36 second-half points and 60 overall.

Northwestern led 74-68 with two minutes left, but couldn’t avoid losing here for the 10th straight year.

Berry had made one of two foul shots to put the Wildcats up 79-77 with 7.4 seconds left. Iowa called a timeout, then another. Then Harding got his eighth assist when he saw Dix flash.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had such a game-winning shot at the buzzer,” Dix said, “so that was great.”

It was reminiscent of when Jordan Bohannon made a 3-pointer with six-tenths of a second left on a sideline pass here in 2019 to give Iowa… an 80-79 victory over Northwestern. Scary.

“Same game,” Sandfort said.

“It is not easy. That’s the easiest way to put it, but he’s one of the best players I’ve ever played with and he made it look easy.”

Dix had 22 points, Sandfort 20. Harding scored two baskets in the final 43 seconds to keep the Hawkeyes afloat.

Iowa scored 18 seconds into the game, taking a 13-3 lead and extending it to 36-19 in the first half.

It didn’t last. The Wildcats, trailing by 15 points early in the second half, improved their shot selection as Iowa’s shooting slowed and its ball-handling became more sloppy.

Northwestern used a 10-0 run to get within 53-50 and then got closer. They took the lead for the first time with 10:40 left and led from the 5:12 mark until the fateful last second.

“Big Ten Basketball 2024,” Northwestern coach Doug Collins said.

“I’m just heartbroken for my boys. Give Iowa credit for the first half and give them credit for winning the game.

“That’s what this league is like. We won one for 39 minutes, 59 seconds and point-2. But you have to play the last point 8.”

Of Iowa’s last timeout, McCaffery said, “I wanted to let Pryce (Sandfort) shoot the ball. That (timeout) was Payton. Payton called it.

“It worked out pretty well.”

McCaffery said he acknowledged Sandfort in the locker room after the game, “and the guys went crazy.”

Iowa’s players and fans went a little crazy as they celebrated together after the game.

The Hawkeyes played without injured forwards Seydou Traore and Cooper Koch. Iowa’s next game is at Michigan on FS1 Saturday at 1 p.m. CT.

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