He kept quiet for almost 30 minutes. But when Northwestern needed him most, Vedran Vukusic let out a thunderous roar.
The senior forward’s last-minute drive-and-dunk – plus a free throw – all but killed visiting Florida Atlantic’s rally and sent the Wildcats (3-1) home with a 69-59 win against the Owls (0-2) Monday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“It was pretty big,” Florida Atlantic and former North Carolina coach Matt Doherty said. “When we’re in a position of desperation and we have to gamble, (we) don’t want the ball in his hands because he can make the play. And he certainly made a huge play.”
With the Cats up 58-54 with a minute remaining after squandering a 19-point lead, Vukusic calmly took the ball to the top of the key. He then fooled his defender with a crossover dribble, drove the lane and tomahawked the ball over the Owls’ helpless Rodney Webb, who fouled Vukusic on the play.
Vukusic drained the foul shot to give NU a seven-point lead Florida Atlantic never overcame.
It was an awakening for Vukusic, who scored 12 of NU’s first 18 points but virtually disappeared until his dunk because of foul trouble. He added four free throws and a lay-up in the final minute to run his total to 27 points, one below his season high.
He now averages 25.8 points per game this season.
Vukusic’s last-minute scoring explosion came after NU coach Bill Carmody removed him after he committed his fourth foul with 8:32 remaining and the Cats up 14.
“I didn’t want to put him back in at all,” Carmody said. “But it’s obvious he had to go back in.”
He had to return, Carmody said, because Florida Atlantic started to adjust. Doherty implemented a zone defense with his team down 49-31, forcing the Cats to go cold from the field.
NU missed all 10 of its 3-point shots in the second half and shot 44 percent from the field, compared to 58 percent in the first half.
The quick Owls also forced seven NU turnovers in a nine-minute span, including three by junior swingman Tim Doyle. The Cats finished with 18.
“I just thought there was carelessness there,” Carmody said. “Major carelessness.”
Meanwhile Florida Atlantic, which shot just 34.6 percent in the first half leading to a 36-23 halftime deficit, started making shots and finished the second half at 58.3 percent shooting.
“They deserved to come back because we let go,” Vukusic said. “They just made their shots, and we missed ours. That’s why they came back. We were lucky to escape with a win.”
Despite turning the ball over five times, Doyle continued to emerge as a scoring threat, pouring in 13 points. Doyle and Vukusic combined for 18 of the Cats’ first 20 points, and Doyle assisted Vukusic on three plays in the first eight minutes.
Doyle handed out a game-high six assists to lead NU for the fourth time in as many games.
Freshman guard Craig Moore scored the first nine points of his career but shot only one of six from behind the 3-point line.
Junior center Vince Scott added seven points and a pulled down a career-high nine rebounds.
Senior guard Evan Seacat and senior center Michael Thompson, both of whom started all three games at the Black Coaches Association Invitational last week in Laramie, Wyo., did not play.
During some timeouts, Thompson did not participate in the team huddle and sat behind injured walk-on Justin Hoeveler on the bench.
“He hasn’t been feeling well,” Carmody said. “That’s all I can even tell you.”
With the win the Cats head to Chicago-area rival DePaul on Saturday on the opposite end of last season’s 1-3 start.
“It was an ugly win,” Doyle said. “But if we could have signed up for (a 3-1 record) before the season, I think we would have.”
Reach Patrick Dorsey at [email protected].
