Trailing 61-60 with one possession to win the game, Northwestern men’s basketball coach Bill Carmody wanted Hardy, his center, who had dominated the paint for 39 minutes, to take the last shot Wednesday against Penn State.
But the Nittany Lions blanketed Hardy, so NU guard Jitim Young improvised.
Young used a Hardy screen, started right and dribbled back down the center of the lane and around Penn State big man Tyler Smith. He laid the ball in with his left hand for the deciding basket in the Wildcats’ 62-61 win.
The game-winner culminated a frantically paced last two minutes in which the lead bounced between the two teams until Penn State guard Joe Crispin’s last-second heave bounced harmlessly off the back rim, sparking an NU celebration.
“I saw Tavaras coming over at me, and I started to go backdoor, but I saw (Penn State guard) Titus Ivory sagging off me a little,” Young said. “I knew I was faster than Titus. I blew right past him and just laid it up there.”
Hardy said Penn State “did a good job of taking us out of what we were doing” on the play. So he made a read and popped out to the top of the key to help Young.
Hardy said Young could either have given him the ball and made a backdoor cut or kept the ball himself and attack the rim.
Young chose the latter.
“He’s a true power forward, that guy,” Carmody said of his freshman point guard’s prowess around the basket.
Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said the Lions (16-8, 6-7 Big Ten) set up in a zone on the last play but blew their defensive assignments. He blasted the interior defense in particular – the lane was empty when Young beat his man at the top of the key, allowing him an uncontested layup.
“The bottom line is that we didn’t do a very good job of keeping the ball in front of us,” Dunn said.
After building a good deal of momentum before and after halftime, the Cats (10-17, 2-12) fell behind by three points heading into the game’s stretch run.
Guard Collier Drayton hit two important free throws to cut the Penn State lead to 57-56. After Crispin made two foul shots for the Lions and Hardy made a short jumper, Hardy drew an over-the-back foul on Smith, who was leaping for the offensive rebound off a missed three-pointer by Ivory (18 points).
“He’s shot very well in the conference, so he wanted to go to the foul line,” Carmody said of Hardy.
Taking long, deep breaths and equally deliberate knee-bends, Hardy knocked down both free throws, giving NU a 60-59 advantage.
But Penn State’s offense, second in the Big Ten in scoring at 78.6 points a game, answered promptly – Crispin connected from 12 feet away in the paint to put the Lions back up by one.
That set the stage for Young’s heroics.
“He turned around and he had a bigger guy on him, so he was going to take him to the basket,” said Hardy, who led the team with 23 points.
Said Carmody, “He stayed with it and he saw an opening and knifed to the basket.”
After the game Carmody said the Cats matched up well against Penn State’s big men, who let Hardy have his way on the blocks. He also said the Lions grew tentative with the lead, and NU took advantage.
Hardy said the win was a welcome relief from Sunday’s mauling at Wisconsin.
“Guys come out with confidence in certain games,” Hardy said, “and we need to come out with confidence every game.”
