Northwestern loses to Iowa in Big Ten Tournament, season over

Northwestern's season ended, and it wasn't pretty.

The Wildcats were hapless from the field to start, and although Iowa didn't have the wherewithal to really push this one out of reach, the Cats never got comfortably close.

This looked like it would get uglier than it actually was. NU couldn't do anything early as Melsahn Basabe had seven rebounds before the under-16 timeout. Iowa started out 11-0, and some Iowa had some dunks that you sort of didn't expect from Iowa players, pushing this one an 18-point lead. Meanwhile, Bill Carmody burned four of his timeouts in the first half, trying to instill fight in a team that was clearly outmatched.

In the second half, things got reasonable. There were some moments where things got interesting - a Reggie Hearn offensive board followed by an Alex Marcotullio strip-and-score cut it to eight, and it would be around there for a bit - but Iowa drilled some threes and Northwestern had a couple of bad turnovers, and soon it was back at 13.

The Bill Carmody talk will come to a head soon, and soon we'll have an answer. For now, I'm a little sad. I had wanted this win, and it didn't hit me until Alex Marcotullio and Reggie Hearn sullenly hugged their way down the bench, exhausted that this was over. I'll miss them both, and it sucks to see another season end with a loss and no NCAA Tournament bid.

Good night, y'all.