WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Northwestern huddled on the sideline, down by three points and 11 seconds away from a deflating loss at Purdue.
With one chance to the send the game to overtime, NU coach Bill Carmody wanted to put the ball in the hands of his senior star Vedran Vukusic.
But before the Wildcats emerged from the timeout, Carmody saw something in his forward’s eyes.
“He told me my eyes were bloodshot,” Vukusic said.
Carmody said he realized Vukusic was tired, so the coach switched the play and gave the ball to “the kid.”
That “kid,” freshman guard Craig Moore, pulled up from the right wing and nailed the game-tying 3-pointer with nine-tenths of a second remaining to send the game to overtime.
“I was happy to come through,” Moore said. “I had to put it all on the line. I knew I had one chance to keep us in the game. As soon as I put it up, I knew it was in.”
In overtime, NU (10-8, 3-4 Big Ten) used the momentum from Moore’s shot to run away with a 78-76 victory Wednesday against Purdue (7-11, 1-6).
Moore’s 3-pointer came on a variation on the play that clinched a 44-42 win against Seton Hall in December. On the game-winner against the Pirates, the ball went into senior guard Mohamed Hachad in the post for a layup.
But on Wednesday, the Cats needed three points. Moore took a pass at the top of the key, dribbled to the right and hit the 3-pointer with the defender trailing him.
In his short career with the Cats, Moore has already demonstrated an ability to hit the big shot.
In NU’s last conference win, a 57-49 victory at Minnesota, Moore hit a 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down to give the Cats a 10-point cushion with 1:40 to play.
“He’s been making shots all year,” Vukusic said. “He’s a very confident guy in practice. It shows in the games. I was really proud of him. When Coach Carmody gave the shot to him, I knew he was going to make it. I had full confidence in him.”
Carmody said he could sense Vukusic was relieved that Moore was going to take the big shot.
“Vedran was happy. I could tell,” Carmody said. “That’s the kind of thing that takes the load of Vedran’s shoulders. I think he plays better when other guys are helping out.”
Moore played a career-high 42 minutes against the Boilermakers, scoring 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting and dishing out five assists.
But his biggest contribution came at the end of regulation.
“The guy from Purdue makes the big shot in the corner to take the lead,” junior swingman Tim Doyle said. “But Craig bailed us out.”
Reach Scott Duncan at [email protected].
