By Ben LarrisonThe Daily Northwestern
Entering Saturday on a three-game losing streak and without its leading scorer, Northwestern didn’t figure to pose much of a threat against the third-ranked team in the nation.
But the Wildcats (10-7, 0-4 Big Ten) would keep it close until the final seconds before ultimately falling 56-50 to Wisconsin (17-1, 3-0) in Evanston.
“I think we definitely had them off their game,” NU senior Tim Doyle said. “We were trying to do the 1-3-1, and it definitely was slowing them down. We had them right where we wanted them.”
As Kevin Coble, the Cats’ leading scorer this season, watched the game from the sidelines with a sprained left ankle, fellow freshman Jeff Ryan took advantage of the opportunity to start. The Glenview, Ill., native filled the void with a career-best and game-high 18 points, including 11 in the first half.
Doyle added 11 points for NU, his ninth game in double digits this season. The fifth-year senior added eight assists and four steals, tying a career high. The Cats finished with nine steals, helping them to a 28-6 advantage in points off turnovers.
“We always seem to get steals,” NU coach Bill Carmody said. “We sort of try to coach that, and the guys have a knack for doing it, getting their hands on some balls. And Ryan was important today, and Vince. Even in the second half we stole about three balls in a row on the baseline there.”
The first half saw a back-and-forth grind between NU and Wisconsin as each fought for points.
Neither the Cats nor the Badgers were able to assert themselves offensively. When it looked like Wisconsin might take control of the game – taking a 22-16 lead on a 13-3 run with 3:15 to go in the first – NU responded with a 10-2 stretch of its own and entered halftime up 26-24.
Perhaps most significant for the Cats, NU held the Badgers’ Alando Tucker, the Big Ten’s second-leading scorer, to just two points in the first half.
“You knew at halftime they were going to come out and be fired up, and you know with all those big bodies and the guys with the big muscles that they have they were going to try to push us around, and I thought we held our own pretty well,” Doyle said.
The Cats’ defense kept them in the game through the beginning of the second half, especially the 1-3-1 formation and a full-court pressure that seemed to slow down and frustrate the Badgers.
But as NU’s shooting touch continued to falter, the defense began to slip well. NU shot 37 percent in the second half, including just 1 for 8 from behind the arc, while the Badgers were 9 for 18 from the field after halftime.
Still, the Cats kept it close throughout the second half. While Wisconsin took a 51-44 lead with just over a minute remaining, NU responded with a 6-1 run to cut it to 52-50 with 51.5 seconds left. But the Badgers would seal the victory with a key offensive rebound, grabbing a loose ball after three Cats were unable to hold on to a Kammron Taylor miss with 19 seconds to go.
“We played well,” Doyle said. “We kept the game in the 50’s. I knew Coble wasn’t playing, so I took some extra shots, I tried to be ultra aggressive. We didn’t make enough plays at the end.”
Reach Ben Larrison at [email protected].
