IOWA CITY (AP) — Last season, Iowa was defined by its late collapse.
This year’s Hawkeyes are finishing a lot better than they started.
Senior Aaron White scored 25 points and Iowa pounded Northwestern 69-52 on Saturday for its first six-game Big Ten winning streak in 28 years.
White also passed Acie Earl for the second-most points in school history for the Hawkeyes (21-10, 12-6 Big Ten).
Iowa never trailed in its final home game of the year. The Hawkeyes turned a six-point halftime lead into a 52-35 advantage midway through the second half and finished their conference slate with identical 6-3 home and road records.
They’re also playing their best basketball a year after closing out the regular season on a 1-5 slide.
Tre Demps had 15 points for Northwestern (15-16, 6-12), which lost for just the second time in seven games.
White buried two 3-pointers and threw down an alley-oop dunk in the first few minutes and Iowa was on its way. The Hawks let Northwestern get within a possession on a few occasions, but they pushed their lead back to 37-27 on a White dunk early in the second half.
White’s last alley-oop dunk came with just less than five minutes left. He stopped, turned to the crowd with a smile and briefly indulged in one of the final standing ovations of his storied career.
White now has 1,793 points. He’s also the only active player in the country with more than 1,700 points, 850 rebounds, 175 assists and 125 steals.
Jarrod Uthoff had 16 points and Adam Woodbury scored 13 for Iowa.
Iowa will be seeded fifth for this week’s Big Ten Conference Tournament. The Hawkeyes will play the winner of Penn State-Nebraska at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday.