IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Tony Perkins' layup with 1.3 seconds left gave Iowa an 88-86 overtime win over No. 20 Wisconsin on Saturday.
Perkins drove the right side of the lane, and nearly had the ball taken away by Wisconsin's Chucky Hepburn. But Perkins recovered to hit the shot. Iowa's Payton Sandfort then intercepted Carter Gilmore's inbounds pass after a timeout to close the win.
"I just spun, bulldozed my way," Perkins said.
Perkins, who scored 18 points, had 16 in the second half and overtime.
"Tony took the second half over," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. "That's who he is."
Freshman Owen Freeman led the Hawkeyes (15-11, 7-8 Big Ten) with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Freeman and Perkins were among four Hawkeyes who scored in double figures. Sandfort had 18 points. Josh Dix scored 17.
"That's the riddle we couldn't solve today," Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said about guarding multiple scorers. "They're good offensively, and they share the ball."
Steven Crowl had 22 points to lead Wisconsin (17-9, 9-6). AJ Storr had 21 points and Hepburn scored 18.
Iowa shot 52.6% for the game, 50% in the second half and in overtime.
"We could never get our heels dug in," Gard said. "They constantly had us off balance, and we could never get enough stops. We got some stops late in the second half, but that was the tone of the game."
Iowa held Wisconsin to 37% shooting in the second half and 42.9% in overtime.
"We really locked in on the defensive end," Freeman said.
Wisconsin opened the game by outscoring the Hawkeyes 17-6 in the first four minutes. The Badgers made 12 of their first 15 shots, building a 13-point lead before Iowa rallied. The Hawkeyes made seven of their last nine shots of the half, getting to within 47-43 at halftime.
"Even though we were scoring at a really good clip, they were still scoring at a good clip," Gard said. "Defensively is where a lion's share of this game, in terms of the faults that we had, will be assessed at."
Iowa built a nine-point lead on two occasions in the second half and then went almost six minutes without a field goal. Wisconsin took a 78-76 lead with 1:02 remaining on Tyler Wahl's layup and then Iowa tied the game on Perkins' drive with 42 seconds remaining.
Both teams had chances to win the game in the closing seconds of the second half. Hepburn missed a 3-point attempt with 14 seconds left and then Perkins missed on a drive to the basket with two seconds left.
BIG PICTURE
Wisconsin: The Badgers came in having lost four of their last five games and had a chance to take control late as the Hawkeyes faded, but missed key shots down the stretch. They scored the first points of overtime, but didn't score in the final 1:46. Gard lamented his team going 18 of 26 on free throws.
"That's uncharacteristic for us to leave that many points at the line," Gard said.
Iowa: The Hawkeyes have either been slow starters or slow finishers for most of the Big Ten season. They were both in this game and it almost proved costly. Iowa wore down in the second half — Perkins and Freeman played the entire half — as the Badgers rallied. But the Hawkeyes made big shots late in overtime and scored a crucial win to help any postseason hopes.
"It seems like we're either up or down," McCaffery said. "It would be nice to get a lead and keep it."
UP NEXT
Wisconsin: Hosts Maryland on Tuesday night.
Iowa: Visits Michigan State on Tuesday night.
