Jogging off the court after his postgame ESPN interview, Mohamed Hachad was greeted by the sight of an admirer wearing a homemade “I Love Mo” shirt. The Northwestern senior guard probably made some new fans with a career-high 25 points in Thursday night’s 62-51 win against Wisconsin.
In what has become an annual tradition, Hachad is playing his best basketball toward the end of the season. The senior guard has led the Wildcats in scoring the last three games, averaging 20.3 points per contest while shooting 60 percent from the field.
In his first 21 games, Hachad averaged 9.6 points per game. Last season he scored in double figures in NU’s final seven games.
“I wish I could be more productive throughout the year,” Hachad said. “I don’t know if there’s an answer to why I play better toward the end of the season.”
Hachad’s surge couldn’t have been timed any better for the Cats. Leading scorer Vedran Vukusic sat out last week’s loss at Illinois and was bothered by stomach pains before the matchup with Wisconsin.
Vukusic finished with 13 points, his lowest output in the Cats’ last eight Big Ten games. But Hachad paced the team from the outset with 15 points before halftime.
“He was terrific out there,” NU coach Bill Carmody said. “Right from the get-go he was cutting hard and doing things – He tries stuff. He’s a risk-taker. It turned out well for us tonight. It has lately.”
Midway through the first half, Hachad caught a full-court pass from senior guard Michael Jenkins and finished the layup. On the next possession, Jenkins found Hachad in the corner for a wide-open 3-pointer that gave NU a 21-16 lead.
That was about all the time Hachad spent on the perimeter. The 6-foot-4 swingman penetrated at will against the Badgers’ man-to-man defense. He finished 11 of 17 from the field, with 10 of his field goals coming inside the paint.
“We need to control the game and run the system,” Hachad said. “But also when we get the chance, we need to attack and let them know we’re here. And we’re trying to score every time.”
Hachad stayed aggressive in the second half on both ends of the floor. From the top position of NU’s 1-3-1 zone, the rangy guard disrupted the Badgers offense all night long, collecting three steals and several deflections.
“He’s crazy,” said Vukusic, who scored only two points in the second half. “He’s a real energy guy. If he gets going, I don’t think we can lose. Everybody feeds off his energy. He was amazing out there today. He was rebounding, diving for balls, scoring. It was the Mohamed Hachad show.”
The highlight of that show came eight minutes into the second half after Hachad had just converted a nifty reverse layup in traffic. Off a hard cut to the basket, Hachad took a pass from Jenkins and elevated for an emphatic dunk that ignited the animated crowd of 6,119 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Hachad’s career night was a far cry from his two-point performance in a 68-52 loss at Wisconsin on Jan. 14 – only his second game back from an appendectomy.
“Everybody knows about his slashing (ability),” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. “He’s pretty good at that. He’s healthy now. He delivered. He’s pretty tough.”
Reach Gerald Tang at [email protected].
