Nick Martinelli scored 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and his basket with 2.6 seconds left helped Northwestern hold off USC 77-75 on Tuesday night.

Martinelli split a double team near the baseline and softly laid it in to give Northwestern (13-10, 4-8 Big Ten) the lead in the closing seconds. Out of a timeout, USC put the ball in the hands of Clark Slajchert who took a few dribbles before a Wildcats defender knocked it out of bounds and time expired.

Slajchert converted a four-point play on a straight-away 3-pointer and a free throw with 29 seconds left to tie it at 75-all. With 1:54 left and USC trailing 72-67, Slajchert also drew a foul on Blake Smith from beyond the arc and made 1 of 3 from the line.

Northwestern led 33-31 and stretched the margin to 15 points, 59-44, over the first 10 minutes of the second half before USC fought its way back but never took the lead.

Martinelli recorded a career-high 10 offensive rebounds and reserve Justin Mullins scored 14 points for Northwestern.

Slajchert scored 24 points, shooting 9 for 11, Wesley Yates III scored 15 points and Chibuzo Agbo 14 for USC (13-9, 5-6).

No. 7 Purdue gets road win at Iowa: Braden Smith had 31 points and Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 25 as No. 7 Purdue beat Iowa 90-81 on Tuesday night.

The Boilermakers (18-5, 10-2 Big Ten) won their third consecutive game, pulling away from a 36-all halftime deadlock with a 17-5 run early in the second half.

The Hawkeyes (13-9, 4-7) got within 80-77 with 2:42 left in the game but the Boilermakers held them off.

Iowa, which lost leading scorer and rebounder Owen Freeman to a season-ending hand injury on Monday, kept pace with Purdue in first half. The Hawkeyes led 36-31 with 1:13 to play before the Boilermakers scored the last five points of the half, with Smith hitting a 3-pointer as time ran out.

Caleb Furst added 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds for Purdue.

Josh Dix led the Hawkeyes with 27 points and Payton Sandfort had 23.

Takeaways

The Boilermakers were the first team to reach 10 wins in conference play behind Smith and Kaufman-Renn, who got what they wanted all night against Iowa’s defense.

The Hawkeyes missed Freeman inside, although they got quality minutes from junior Riley Mulvey, making the first start of his college career. Iowa was outrebounded 33-26 against the Boilermakers, who have won 10 of the last 12 in the series.

The game was tied at 41 when Smith and Loyer hit back-to-back 3-pointers in a 30-second span, starting the key run for the Boilermakers. Purdue made 8 of its first 9 shots in the second half, including 5 of 5 on 3-pointers.

Smith and Kaufman-Renn were a combined 21 of 33 from the field. Purdue shot 55% for the game.

Hoosiers’ drought in Madison continues: John Tonje had 15 points to lead a balanced scoring attack and No. 21 Wisconsin continued its home domination of Indiana by beating the slumping Hoosiers 76-64 on Tuesday night.

Wisconsin (18-5, 8-4 Big Ten) has won its last 21 home games against Indiana, the Hoosiers’ longest road losing streak against any opponent. The Hoosiers’ last victory over the Badgers in Madison came on Jan. 25, 1998, in the inaugural season of the Kohl Center.

Indiana (14-9, 5-7) has lost four straight overall.

Max Klesmit scored 13 points for Wisconsin. Nolan Winter had 12 and Carter Gilmore finished with 10.

Mackenzie Mgbako had 15 points for Indiana, and Luke Goode added 11.

Wisconsin grabbed a 19-2 advantage in the first 4½ minutes by shooting 5 of 6 from 3-point range and 6 of 7 overall.

The Badgers extended the lead to 26-4 a few minutes later.

The first three games in Indiana’s losing streak were decided by a combined 15 points — including a 79-78 defeat against Maryland and an 81-76 setback at Purdue that both went down to the wire — but this one was never competitive.

This actually isn’t the Badgers’ longest active home win streak over a Big Ten school.

Wisconsin has won its last 22 home matchups with Penn State, which visits the Kohl Center on March 8.