Michael Jenkins’ shot bounced high off the rim and seemed to settle ever so slightly on the edge of the basket.
Then in home court shooter’s roll fashion, the ball trickled into the hoop to give Northwestern a 75-74 overtime victory against No. 23 Iowa as the buzzer sounded.
Jenkins was mobbed at center court by the students in the crowd of 5,219 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“I saw it hit the rim, so I figured I was going to get the shooter’s roll,” Jenkins said. “Everybody who plays basketball when it hits the rim feels that it might roll back in. That’s what I thought it was going to do.”
The play allowed the Cats (9-9, 2-4 Big Ten) to snap a four-game losing streak and may have resurrected the team’s postseason hopes.
“One game doesn’t necessarily turn you around, but maybe it can get us going a little bit,” coach Bill Carmody said. “There was a little more enthusiasm (Wednesday).”
The game-winning shot came on an inbounds play with 2.7 seconds left where Jenkins wasn’t even the primary option.
Standing on the baseline, swingman Tim Doyle faked a pass to the cutting Vedran Vukusic. This caused Iowa’s defenders to shift to the middle of the floor, including guard Jeff Horner who was guarding Jenkins.
“I think (Horner) kind of got lost because I saw him run up, and then I ran back to the corner,” said Jenkins, who finished with nine points. “I was wide open.”
Iowa coach Steve Alford was disgusted with Horner and the rest of the Hawkeyes (14-5, 2-4).
“Jeff was just standing there and not paying attention to his guy in the corner,” Alford said. “Other than that, (it) was defended pretty good.”
Jenkins’ heroics were set up by some clutch shooting from Vukusic at the end of the second half. With 14 seconds left, Pierre Pierce fouled Vukusic behind the arc. The forward then stepped to the foul line needing to make all three of his free throws to tie the game.
After Vukusic made his first two shots, Alford called a timeout to ice the career 75 percent free-throw shooter.
But Vukusic hit his final freebie and Pierce’s shot rimmed out as time expired.
“I just said to myself, ‘If you make this, we go (to overtime),'” Vukusic said. “It’s a free shot, so you better make it.”
With the exception of the last 1:37 of overtime, Iowa controlled most of the extra period and the majority of the game. Ahead 73-68 after Pierce’s bucket with 1:45 left, the Hawkeyes appeared to regain their early game dominance.
But just as they allowed a 62-50 lead with 3:20 left in the second half to evaporate, the Hawkeyes opened the door for another Cats run.
In overtime, three missed foul shots and two turnovers doomed Iowa as NU went on a 7-1 run in the final 1:37. Vukusic was key in the closing moments, scoring four of his career-high 32 points as the game wound down.
NU almost managed to hand the win over to the opposition when guard T.J. Parker threw an errant pass to a charging Vukusic with 6.2 seconds left. But Pierce inbounded the ball right to Parker on the next play, and NU coach Bill Carmody called timeout with 2.7 seconds left to set up Jenkins’ miracle shot.
The Cats started the game in their routinely slow fashion with their first field goal not coming until the 15:29 mark in the first half. By that point Iowa held a 10-4 advantage and did not miss a field goal until 12:49 left in the period.
But NU battled back to tie the game at 26 with 1:58 left in the first half and even took the lead temporarily on a fastbreak layup from guard Mohamed Hachad 18 seconds later.
The Hawkeyes’ barrage of 3-pointers continued for the rest of the period, though, and Carlton Reed’s trey gave Iowa a 32-29 halftime lead.
Iowa converted 6 of 12 from downtown before intermission.
With NU center Mike Thompson on the bench for most of the game, Iowa center Greg Brunner could not be stopped in the paint. In the first half, the 6-foot-7 junior scored 14 points of his career-high 28 points.
Reach Zach Silka at [email protected].
