Around the Conference Recap: Iowa Bounces Back, Northwestern Falls

The Big Ten had two games tonight, with Iowa facing off against one of the worst teams in the nation (Maryland Eastern Shore) and Northwestern traveling out to California to take on a potential NCAA team in Stanford. The Big Ten split the night, with Iowa winning the first game and Northwestern falling late out west.

Iowa 109 Maryland Eastern Shore 63

Maryland Eastern Shore is one of the worst teams in the nation. Last season their two win total was second to only Grambling State and somehow they still extended their coach for this season. The Fighting Hawks were overmatched from the get go and Iowa jumped all over them from the beginning, including a 21-2 first half run.

Maryland Eastern Shore didn't have a very good night, scoring only 23 points in the first half. They scored a bit more when Iowa was playing their bench, but UMES still ended up shooting 32% from the field and 16% from beyond the arc. They were also outrebounded by 20 and had 15 turnovers on the night. Guard Isaac Smith III was the only player to reach double digits, but that happened on a poor 6 of 24 night shooting.

Iowa has been working on trying to improve their shooting and saw some progress in tonight's game. Their overall percentage on the night was 51.5% while nailing a modestly successful 41.2% from three, a considerable improvement for the Hawkeyes. Of course the Hawkeyes also got to the line for 43 attempts, 25 more than their opponent. The most notable statistic was the fact that Iowa had seven players in double digits and every player that took the court scored tonight, with Okey Ukah scoring his first collegiate point.

Iowa is now 3-0 and will take on Abilene Christian this Sunday evening.

Northwestern 58 Stanford 71

Northwestern had to travel early this season, heading out to the west coast to play an upbeat, NCAA-minded team in Stanford. The Cardinal have been on the outside looking in and the team wants to finally show that they're the real deal. The Cardinal's attempt to make the leap to NCAA contender will be dependent on Stanford winning these kinds of games. Unfortunately for Collins and the Wildcats, Stanford came to play.

It was a relatively close first half, with Stanford only up two at halftime. However, Stanford slowly increased the lead and cruised to a 13 point victory during the second half. Stanford saw every starter besides Dwight Powell (9 points on 5 shots) finish in double digits, while the team shot over 50% from the field and an even 50% from three. The Cardinal also won the rebounding contest and committed fewer turnovers and penalties. Stanford played a bit off from the hectic pace they maintained against BYU, but they did more than enough to pull off the victory.

Northwestern's lack of depth became pretty apparent here tonight. That and Collins attempt to take the leftover talent from Carmody's tenure and throw them into his offensive system. While Tre Demps scoring 10 points off the bench, he struggled considerably early on and his ineffectiveness seemed to be a potential problem. Center Alex Olah was relatively non-existent, only logging 18 minutes and adding 4 points and 3 assists. Crawford struggled from the field, paving the way for JerShon Cobb to lead in scoring. Besides Cobb's performance, though, there wasn't much to write home about. Even more so as the team shot 38.9% from the field tonight and took over half of their shots from beyond the arc. Collins hasn't gone all in on his system due to the talent at hand, but this was the traditional Northwestern offense from the Carmody era. And when you live and die by the three, when you struggle to hit from deep on the road, this is what happens.

Northwestern falls to 1-1 and will take on Illinois State on Sunday this weekend.