Amid flaring tempers during Saturday night’s men’s basketball game, Northwestern forward Tavaras Hardy managed to keep a cool head – while maintaining a hot hand.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Hardy’s laid-back style wasn’t enough to temper NU’s shaky performance. The Cats made just half of their free-throw attempts, were outrebounded 37-25 and committed 18 turnovers in the 55-48 loss to Ohio State (12-3, 3-0 Big Ten).
It was the third consecutive Big Ten loss for NU (8-6, 0-3), coming in front of a boisterous crowd of 4,984 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
As has been the case during most of the season, the Cats combined sloppy play with above-average defense to keep the matchup close – but not close enough, Hardy said.
“There’s so much more we could have done right tonight,” said Hardy, who finished with a game-high 21 points. “We have to play more physical, get a lot more rebounds, make some bigger shots and definitely make free throws. I don’t see a lot of positive things out of tonight. It really hurts us when we lose, and that’s all we can think about right now.”
The crowd unleashed a chorus of jeers midway through the first half when NU head coach Bill Carmody received a technical foul for arguing a charging call on Cats forward Vedran Vukusic. Carmody flirted with another technical foul after giving the officials an earful before heading to the locker room at halftime.
The crowd also rained hoots and hollers on the officials when they left the court at intermission; after they returned to the floor at the end of halftime; and as they sprinted off at the end of the game.
Despite a sluggish start – NU fell behind 8-0 and recorded five turnovers in the game’s first five minutes – the Cats trailed by just six at the break. Young credited the senior Hardy, who picked up his play even when the calls weren’t going the Cats’ way.
Hardy tallied NU’s final 10 points of the first half and opened the second with the Cats’ first three points. He knocked down 18 of 23 NU points over a stretch of about 16 minutes, while Vukusic connected on the other five.
But Hardy’s supporting cast failed to complement his effort – Hardy was NU’s only player to score in double digits.
Young, who leads the Cats in scoring this season, was just 2 of 8 from the field for nine points. The Cats’ leading three-point shooter and second-best scorer, forward Winston Blake, was 0-for-2 from beyond the arc and had just four points.
NU showed signs of life throughout the contest but was never able to cut Ohio State’s lead to fewer than two points. The Cats held the Buckeyes to 41.2 percent shooting from the field, including 0-for-12 from the beyond the arc. It was the first time in 294 games that Ohio State did not connect on at least one three-pointer. NU forced 14 turnovers, as well.
Despite the strong defensive effort, the Cats had little potency on the offensive side of the ball, shooting just 44.4 percent and turning the ball over 18 times. As was also the case in Wednesday’s loss at Iowa, NU was overpowered inside. The rebounding disparity included a 13-5 deficit on the offensive glass.
NU also couldn’t stop Ohio State big man Zach Williams, who went 5-for-8 from the field for 12 points to go along with seven boards.
“They got an awful lot of offensive rebounds – the kind that just were hustle plays on their part,” Carmody said. “We didn’t keep them off the boards.
“We have to make shots,” he added. “I thought we got a couple of pretty nice looks but didn’t knock them down. Shooting is so important, and right now we’re not a very good shooting team.”
But the Cats’ downfall came at the charity stripe. NU guard Jitim Young was just 3 of 9 from the line, including several critical misses down the stretch.
“We missed foul shots,” Carmody said. “(Ohio State) missed foul shots too, but theirs were the kind that probably could have iced the game. Ours were the kind that could have kept us in the game.”
