MADISON, Wis. – The Badgers fans finally were on their feet. After 19 minutes of mostly dull first-half action, they began shouting and screaming after Alando Tucker took a steal baseline-to-baseline to give the Badgers a 14-point lead.
Then Craig Moore told them to shut up.
The freshman guard quickly nailed an NBA-range 3 to quiet the NBA-like Kohl Center’s crowd just as soon as it had come to life.
Sure, Moore’s big shot didn’t change the outcome of the game – Northwestern quietly lost 68-52 – but, like his game-clinching, NBA-range 3 at Minnesota, it said something about the Wildcats’ unheralded Doylestown, Pa., recruit.
The kid has fire, and he’s quickly establishing himself as one of the Cats’ leaders. Or maybe the leader.
“He’s got a little passion,” NU coach Bill Carmody said. “I have all these stoic guys out there, and he’s not. He’s got some blood running through him.”
Moore’s track record speaks for itself. He led Lawrenceville (N.J.) Prep to back-to-back state championships, staring down future NBA lottery picks Luol Deng and Charlie Villanueva on the way to the 2003 title, and current New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets guard J.R. Smith in the 2004 championship game.
Also, according to a story published in The Daily last spring, Moore broke his nose in the first quarter of a game his senior year – and still finished with a triple-double.
Nothing seems to faze him.
Maybe that’s why he’s scoring 11.5 points per Big Ten game, up from five per game before the conference season started.
Maybe that’s why he scored 15 points – 5 of 7 from 3-point range – in a win at Minnesota, then followed with 14 at Wisconsin (and, in the process, ended NU’s string of eight straight wins when someone other than senior all-Big Ten candidate Vedran Vukusic scores 13 or more).
Maybe that’s why he looks like the future of the Cats program.
That’s not to say Moore soon will be putting up 25 points per night while leading NU to multiple tournament bids – those expectations would be ridiculous to hoist upon a mostly anonymous recruit who chose NU over schools like Rice and Penn.
It’s also not to say Moore’s without his faults. It would be nice to see him take a few more 2-point shots, having attempted just two since conference play began. He also has the tendency to go cold from beyond the arc, finishing 1 for 6 against Florida Atlantic and 0 for 4 at Virginia.
And, as it is with any passionate player, sometimes his fire is “a little misguided,” as Carmody said, leading him to force shots or fly out of control on the defensive end.
But it’s hard to ignore his potential, especially when he gives such a gutsy performance in a can’t-win place like the Kohl Center.
He hit four of his seven 3-point attempts. He committed zero of his team’s 19 turnovers. He dove after loose balls. On one second-half possession, a fired-up Moore rushed the ball down the court to try to catch Wisconsin napping, only to frustratingly pull back when he recognized that the rest of his team wasn’t paying attention either.
After the game, Moore was diplomatic, offering typical answers to questions about his and his team’s performance. When asked about what he wants to do in his future with the Cats, he offered another canned answer – only this one was quietly telling.
“Just lead the team to wins,” he said.
With the passion he’s shown thus far, he’ll be doing that sooner than later.
Assistant Sports Editor Patrick Dorsey is a Medill junior. He can be reached at
