Iowa 73, Northwestern 59: Roy Devyn Marble scored 19 points to lead the Hawkeyes past the Wildcats in the first round of the Big Ten tournament in Chicago.

Mike Gesell added 13 points and Melsahn Basabe had 10 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots for sixth-seeded Iowa (21-11), which faces third-seeded Michigan State in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Reggie Hearn had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Alex Olah added 12 points and Tre Demps scored 11 for 11th-seeded Northwestern (13-19).

Iowa never trailed and scored the first 11 points as Northwestern missed its first seven shots and didn’t score until the game was nearly 7 1/2 minutes old. A dunk by Eric May gave the Hawkeyes a 29-11 advantage with 5:10 left en route to a 36-22 halftime lead.

The Wildcats made a run in the second half and were within 50-43 on Hearn’s basket with 8:27 to play before Marble and May hit back-to-back 3-pointers to stem the charge.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Hawkeyes beat the Wildcats three times this season by an average of 16 points. … Northwestern finished the season with nine straight losses and there is speculation that coach Bill Carmody could be fired after 13 seasons at the school. … Iowa had a 48-31 edge on the boards and accumulated 19 offensive rebounds. The 48 rebounds match the tournament record set by Penn State in 2001.