By Abe RakovThe Daily Northwestern
Well at this rate if Northwestern draws Ohio State at some point in the Big Ten tournament the Wildcats should win.
The Cats fell to the No. 5 Buckeyes 59-50 just a week after getting drubbed by 32 in Columbus, Ohio. NU always plays much better at home, but Welsh-Ryan Arena shouldn’t get too much credit for the Cats losing by 23 fewer points.
While NU showed a lot of improvement this time around, Ohio State didn’t help it’s own cause by shooting 27 percent from 3-point range and committing 14 turnovers. And there’s the fact that the Buckeyes ignored their future NBA star Greg Oden much of the game.
Ohio State’s freshman sensation scored 17 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, but he could have been a much bigger force offensively. In the matchup in Columbus it took the Buckeyes about eight minutes to even give Oden a touch on offense, and the center scored a career-low five points.
Last night Oden was fouled trying to dunk six seconds into the game, but his teammates forgot the 7-foot star was there for long stretches throughout the night. Most of the time he had to generate his own shots by grabbing rebounds or running in transition.
At least after the game Oden one-upped his selfish teammates. While they were forced to leave Welsh-Ryan Arena on their own, Oden was surrounded by a police escort of six officers that helped him exit the building.
Even though Oden had a much better offensive game than he did in last week’s blowout, the Cats had a chance to win this time.
“I give them a lot of credit,” Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. “Coming off a (32)-point loss, they came at us. It was like that didn’t even register with them.”
NU slowed the game down to a manageable pace, was able to shoot a good percentage from the field, had leading scorer Kevin Coble back and sophomore Sterling Williams provided a spark off the bench.
Williams struggled most of the season as a starter. After the Michigan State loss, when he scored just two points in 22 minutes, NU coach Bill Carmody said the sophomore was benched for most of the game because the coach runs a “meritocracy.”
Williams responded to his benching last night by scoring 11 points in 24 minutes. He looked for shots, played good defense and crashed the boards, grabbing two offensive rebounds in the first half.
But like it has so many times, rebounding killed the Cats at the end of the game. After senior swingman Tim Doyle scored to pull NU to within three with 3:42 left, Ohio State had four offensive rebounds that led to five points and put the game away.
“It’s the same old thing,” Carmody said. “What’s the difference in the last three-and-a-half minutes? Is it we’re too tired? Is it you just can’t get over the hump because you can’t get over the hump? And once you do, is it going to be OK?”
That’s a lot of questions. And Carmody and the Cats are going to have to answer them soon if they have any chance of salvaging the year.
The Cats have played the top three Big Ten teams at home (Ohio State, Wisconsin and Michigan), and lost all three times in games they could have won.
“It just seems like that broken record,” Carmody said.
Luckily for NU it has five very winnable Big Ten home games left. If the Cats play like they did last night (except for the last three-and-a-half minutes), they’ll have a different record – 5-0.
Basketball editor Abe Rakov is a Medill junior. He can be reached at [email protected].
