MINNEAPOLIS – Leave it to the freshman to take a shot like that.
With 1:40 to play and Northwestern in danger of letting a huge win slip away, point guard Craig Moore launched a 3-pointer from NBA range. The ball swished through the net, taking the air out of a raucous crowd of 12,582 at Williams Arena. The gutsy shot ended a late 10-0 run by Minnesota and cemented a 57-49 road victory Saturday afternoon.
“I was feeling it a little bit, so I just let it go,” said Moore, who nailed 5-of-7 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 15 points. “It felt good. Honestly, I didn’t even notice how far out I was. I thought I was right on the 3-point line.”
Moore and freshman backcourt mate Sterling Williams combined for 30 points to relieve the scoring burden on senior forward Vedran Vukusic, who led the team with 17 points and seven rebounds. In Wednesday’s win against Purdue, swingman Tim Doyle provided the support with a career-high 20 points.
“It’s fantastic,” coach Bill Carmody said of the balanced scoring attack. “You notice it doesn’t seem like Vedran’s forcing things. He feels confident throwing it to guys.”
Moore ignited the Wildcats early with three 3-pointers in the first five minutes. The hot shooting was backed by a suffocating defense that dominated most of the contest. Gophers senior Vincent Grier, an All-Big Ten First Team selection last year, did not score until 17:25 remained in the game.
The Cats (9-4, 2-0 Big Ten) once again found success using the 1-3-1 zone. Juniors Vince Scott and Bernard Cote clogged the lane while staying out of foul trouble. The defense limited Grier’s ability to slash to the basket and hounded the passing lanes.
The Gophers (9-3, 0-1) were forced into attempting 26 3-pointers in their Big Ten opener; they made only seven. NU built a 31-18 halftime lead while holding Minnesota to 30 percent shooting and forcing 11 turnovers. Several times boos rained down from a crowd frustrated with the home team’s offensive woes.
“We pride ourselves on defense in practice, and it carries over into the games,” Moore said. “We try to get our hands on as many passes as we can just to disrupt their offense.”
Moore said a team meeting after the Dec. 14 home loss to Illinois-Chicago helped the players regain their confidence. NU has responded with a five-game winning streak, which also coincides with the switch to a 1-3-1 defense.
Since first using the zone in a 44-42 win at Seton Hall, the Cats have held opponents to an average of 45.4 points per game. They lead the Big Ten in scoring defense and rank second with 8.7 steals per game.
“We’re not a high-flying, high-scoring team, so we rely on our defense a lot to slow the tempo down,” Williams said. “We want to control the pace of the game.”
NU’s lead ballooned to 18 with eight minutes to play before Grier keyed a 14-3 run with a pair of 3-pointers. That set the stage for Moore’s long trey, which pushed the lead back into double digits.
Carmody said the team tired in the second half and could have used another scrappy defender in guard Mohamed Hachad, who underwent an appendectomy on Dec. 28. Trainers cleared Hachad to play about 10 minutes Saturday, but Carmody wanted the senior to log some practice time.
In Hachad’s absence, the Cats are 2-0 in conference play for the first time since the 1982-83 season. Their 9-4 overall record marks the best start in the six-year Carmody era. NU won only one conference road game last season – also against Minnesota.
“It gives us confidence headed to other arenas,” Williams said. “Every team in our conference is good. I think it just helps our mind-frame to know that we can win games.”
Reach Gerald Tang at [email protected].
