If Northwestern had built any momentum heading into its game against No. 1 Illinois on Wednesday by winning four out of its last five games, coach Bill Carmody wouldn’t know it.
“We have?” Carmody said when asked if he realized his team had won four of five. “Enough said, right?”
The Wildcats (13-12, 5-7 Big Ten) took another step toward a postseason bid to the National Invitation Tournament with their 54-39 win against Penn State on Saturday. NU sits in seventh place in the Big Ten and needs two wins in its final four regular season games to secure postseason eligibility.
“It’s definitely in the back of our heads,” center Vince Scott said.
The Cats forced 22 Penn State turnovers and turned the mistakes into 18 points.
NU has accumulated 50 steals against the Nittany Lions (7-18, 1-11) in their last three meetings, including 17 on Saturday.
“You can’t just turn it over that many times and not shoot the ball and make baskets and expect to win,” Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said.
NU guard Mohamed Hachad, who had a breakout game against Penn State at home last season, scored a game-high 13 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds. Last year against Penn State, Hachad scored 16 points and grabbed five steals.
Hachad has come off the bench in every game since having his streak of 61 consecutive starts broken at Wisconsin on Feb. 2. He took advantage of a golden opportunity with 12:24 left in the first half Saturday.
When Michael Jenkins recorded his second foul, Carmody tabbed Hachad to maintain the Cats’ 9-4 lead.
He gave NU a much-needed offensive spark. Hachad scored nine of his 13 points before halftime and shot 75 percent from the field.
“It has to be everyone’s mentality that once you step on the court, and even if you’re not on the court, you have to contribute by doing something,” he said. “Once you step out there, you have your chance. You have to go out there and play hard and try to do whatever the team needs you to do.”
Hachad’s defensive contribution also didn’t go unnoticed. Carmody pointed to his 6-foot-5 guard as one of the keys to closing the rebounding gap from the last contest between NU and Penn State. Center Aaron Johnson outrebounded all of the Cats combined Jan. 22.
“(Hachad’s) the only guy on our team that gets to the rim,” Carmody said. “He had six rebounds, and it seemed like all of them were above the rim. If he doesn’t get them, (Penn State) has a couple guys that might be able to. We don’t have anybody else.”
After averaging 8.3 points and two steals last season in 29 starts, Hachad has struggled this year. He is averaging 7.1 points and 1.2 steals per game and has not provided consistent energy.
“You have to take the bad with the good with him,” Carmody said. “He drives you nuts, but we need him if we’re going to be effective and win.”
NU also got another solid performance from Scott, who has started the last five games at center in place of the injured Mike Thompson.
Scott tied Hachad for a team-high in points and rebounds and picked up four steals to go with his 4-of-8 shooting performance.
It originally appeared Thompson would be back against Penn State after participating in pregame warmups and practice Friday. But Carmody said Thompson experienced some stiffness in his sprained right foot Saturday morning.
Carmody elected to rest Thompson, but said he may be available Wednesday against Illinois.
“It’s possible,” Carmody said.
Vedran Vukusic also may be fully healthy against Illinois. NU’s leading scorer has been bothered by fatigue in the team’s last four games and finished Saturday’s game with 12 points in 29 minutes because of foul trouble.
“I felt much better,” Vukusic said. “It depends on the tempo of the game. Today I could have played the whole game, but I collected some fouls and was sitting the bench.”
Reach Zach Silka at [email protected]
