Not even some home cooking could cure the dejected look on the face of T.J. Parker and the rest of the Northwestern men’s basketball team right now.
The Wildcats (1-4) lost their fourth game in a row Wednesday night, with the latest setback coming at the hands of No. 24 Virginia (5-0) in a 48-44 loss in NU’s home opener.
The game was part of the Big Ten/Atlantic Coast Conference Challenge and was played in front of 4,283 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Both teams suffered from cold shooting throughout the game, as evidenced by the half time score of 23-19. NU shot 37 percent to Virginia’s 44 percent, and the teams converted only 10 of 33 three-pointers.
"I thought it was a sloppy game for both teams," NU coach Bill Carmody said. "We did not look like a veteran team out there tonight. We were not precise and looked out of sorts."
The teams also combined for 33 turnovers, with many of the Cats’ 16 turnovers coming against a 2-3 zone. While Virginia normally plays man-to-man defense, the Cavaliers utilized a zone defense to force NU to take outside shots, which the Cats haven’t been able to regularly convert on all season.
"You have to do something when you’re facing the Princeton offense," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "It was a scrappy, gutty effort on our part, and we were not going to be denied."
In the Cats’ first three games this season, point guard T.J. Parker and forward Vedran Vukusic have been the scorers. But the pair were limited to a combined 22 points in the game and only five points in the first half.
Parker finished 2 of 11 from the field with six points, but Vukusic tallied 14 second-half points to redeem himself from a poor first half. Vukusic came into the game averaging 17.3 points per game while Parker averaged 12.5.
"I’ll take the blame tonight," Parker said. "I didn’t run this team well at all. This team is much better than what we have been doing."
Vukusic said the team has not lost its confidence during the losing streak but did say the Cats’ streaky shooting is happening for a reason.
"If we’re not shooting well at the beginning of the game, we get uncertain and we shouldn’t be," he said.
Virginia center Elton Brown, who finished with 15 points, scored his team’s first eight points, as the Cavaliers jumped out to an 8-4 lead.
The Cats took their first lead with 9:42 left in the first half on freshman guard Brandon Lee’s three-pointer to cap a 7-0 run that put NU on top 13-8.
The drive was sparked by two consecutive tip-in baskets from senior forward Davor Duvancic, who finished with 10 points.
But the Cavaliers answered with an 8-0 run at the end of the first half. They were also helped by NU, which did not make a basket in the last 6:40 of the half.
In the second half, the Cats took the lead momentarily with 14:28 left and even had the game tied as late as 2:28 left, but they could not hang on. The Cavaliers used clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch from their guard tandem of J.R.Reynolds and Sean Singletary to put away the Cats.
From here NU’s nonconference schedule becomes somewhat easier, with six of the remaining seven games at home. The Cats next take on Chicago State (0-3) on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
"As my brother would say, ‘You’re 1-4. Get the hell better.’" Carmody said.
Reach Zach Silka at [email protected].
