During Saturday’s contest against Iowa, much of the focus was on Craig Moore, Northwestern’s best shooter, playing in his final home game.
But outside of the spotlight, it was Jeremy Nash, the Wildcats’ best defender, who had his work cut out for him in the 55-49 victory.
The last time the Cats faced the Hawkeyes in Iowa City, Iowa, they fell victim to the 3-pointer. Iowa found holes in the 1-3-1 zone defense – especially in the corners – and made 12 shots on 40 percent shooting from beyond the arc on its way to a 56-51 victory.
At home, the Cats opted against the 1-3-1 zone and instead played a matchup zone to counteract Iowa’s 3-point proficiency. With their long-distance shooting hindered by the switch, the Hawkeyes looked to the post for offense but were denied inside as well.
“We were throwing it inside more,” Iowa coach Todd Lickliter said. “The post shot 11 times at the basket and to (NU’s) credit they blocked them, or altered them, and I think we were 3-for-11 inside.”
Junior forward Kevin Coble said the team “stepped up physicially” in a way that it could not in previous seasons, when post players like Iowa’s Cyrus Tate would dominate the paint against the Cats.
But the Hawkeyes still gave the Cats some trouble thanks to 6-foot-6 point guard Jake Kelly.
“The first half, our defense was very, very good,” Carmody said. “Then they seemed to get a feel for it, and Kelly was penetrating a little bit.”
At that point, Carmody decided to go back to the 1-3-1.
“That was definitely not the ticket tonight,” Carmody said. “Because Kelly was banging shots and different guys were making shots. So we went back to our matchup for most of the second half and I thought that was effective.”
Kelly was dominant from the inside and outside. The sophomore dribbled his way into the paint and scored on several difficult drives to the basket. He also converted on 4-of-9 attempts from downtown.
The Cats had no answer for Kelly for most of the game. He had 12 points at halftime, and he scored his 22nd and 23rd points on a game-tying layup with four-and-a-half minutes to play.
“He has a lot of And 1 Mix Tape-type moves,” Coble said. “He made some moves that are just tough to guard.”
But in the final 4:30 of game time Kelly did not add to his scoring total. Carmody had Nash, a junior guard and defensive extraordinaire, shadowing the Iowa star everywhere he went on the court.
“I just said, ‘Do not let that guy get the ball back,'” Carmody said. “And it’s hard to accomplish that, but I thought (Nash) did a pretty good job. (Kelly) wasn’t getting all the shots at the end – it was a ‘Let someone else beat you’ kind of thing.”
And nobody stepped up to take the scoring responsibility in place of the well-defended Kelly.
Meanwhile Coble nailed a mid-range jumper with a hand in his face to put NU up two. Then Moore, who was honored in a ceremony before the game, finally awoke and sunk a long 3-pointer to put the Cats up five, 52-47. They never looked back.
But Moore’s storybook ending, in his final game at Welsh Ryan Arena, may never have happened without Nash stifling Kelly down the stretch.
