By Abe RakovThe Daily Northwestern
Northwestern managed to find a new way to lose a Big Ten game – in an offensive shootout.
The Wildcats’ normally sluggish offense caught fire Saturday morning (the game started at 11:15 a.m., a time normally reserved for the final REM sleep cycle on Saturdays). NU shot almost 47 percent and scored 40 points in the second half but still lost 75-68.
Think about what it means for the Cats to score 40 points in a half. They scored 40 total points in a win over lowly North Florida earlier this year and 41 in a squeaker against Division III Wheaton. Just last week NU managed just 37 in a loss at Illinois. And Saturday the Cats scored 40 points in 20 minutes – and still lost.
How is this possible? Well, when I say “the Cats” scored 40 points in a half and 68 total, I’m using the term loosely. It was really just senior Tim Doyle and freshman Kevin Coble on offense, with the three other guys on the court not doing much more than taking up space.
Doyle and Coble scored 50 points (more points than the Cats scored in eight games this year), but the rest of the team managed just 18. Sophomore starters Sterling Williams and Craig Moore played a combined 38 minutes and didn’t score. Centers Vince Scott and Ivan Tolic were in the game for a total of 30 minutes, scoring five points while failing to collect a rebound.
When Doyle and Coble have to play 2 on 5 on offense, NU isn’t going to have much, if any, success.
But it wasn’t that surprising that NU’s offense minus Doyle and Coble couldn’t do much of anything – it has been the case most of the year. The real surprise was the Cats’ lack of defense. They gave up 75 points at home, which rarely happens. As Purdue coach Matt Painter put it, “There’s no way I would have thought that we’d be able to score 75 points in Evanston.”
In the first half, NU couldn’t stop guard David Teague, who scored 18 points on 5-of-9 shooting in the frame (he finished with 26 points). In the second half the Cats couldn’t shut down anything Purdue ran.
NU hadn’t allowed more than 62 points at home all conference season. The Cats gave up more than 70 points twice in Big Ten play, but both of those contests were on the road. Before Saturday, NU had gone 10 conference games without allowing more than 70 points at Welsh-Ryan Arena, dating back to last February.
If NU, which came into the game second in the Big Ten giving up just more than 57 points per game, played even close to its potential on defense the Cats would have won. Even without playing any defense, NU was still in the game after going on a 17-3 run to climb to within five points with 1:12 left – which completely caught the student section off guard, as the students were chanting “We want pizza!” with about three minutes left and the Cats still relatively in the game down 70-58.
When Doyle scored to give NU 60 points and close the gap to 10, the students gave a huge ovation, but only because of the buy one Dominos pizza, get one free deal they get when NU scores 60 points. Shortly after that the student section realized the Cats were somehow still in the game, and hopefully the students were a little embarrassed with the pizza chant.
It was all for naught, as the Cats lost again.
But at least from the fan’s perspective it wasn’t a Groundhog Day kind of Cats’ loss – the 55-52-type slugfests where giving up an offensive rebound in the closing minutes loses the game. And there was also the free pizza.
Basketball editor Abe Rakov is a Medill junior. He can be reached at [email protected].
