The Iowa Hawkeyes have closed out the regular season after a maddening 74-72 road loss at Illinois, which killed a five-game winning streak. Now it’s time to turn to the tournaments and Iowa’s last chance to bolster an improving NCAA Tournament resume.
That starts on Thursday as the 5th seeded Hawkeyes take on the 12th seed Northwestern Wildcats to open up Big Ten Tournament play for Iowa. The Wildcats defeated 13th seed Nebraska 71-69 on Wednesday evening to advance to the second round. That’s Northwestern’s second straight win as they closed out the regular season with a 13-point victory over last place Minnesota (which also saw their season come to an end with a first round loss to Penn State on Wednesday evening).