Northwestern’s second trip to the postseason in as many years was just as short as its last.
The 7th-seeded Wildcats never led after the opening minutes and lost their first-round National Invitational Tournament game on the road at second-ranked Rhode Island, 76-64, ending their season.
“I was proud of the season we had,” coach Bill Carmody said. “But we don’t want to be in the NIT next year, to tell you the truth.”
It was the first time in school history the Cats (20-14) made a postseason tournament in back-to-back years. NU still hasn’t won a postseason game since 1983.
With the loss the Cats fell to 2-9 on the road for the season.
“I like to think that we improved over the season on the road,” junior point guard Michael Thompson said. “But it’s tough going into a hostile environment and coming out with the win.”
Thompson led all scorers with 24 points, and freshman guard Drew Crawford tallied a career-high 12 rebounds to match his 12 points. But NU spent most of the game down by several possessions.
Sophomore forward John Shurna nailed two early 3s, allowing NU to knot the game at six. But that’s when the Rams (24-9) got hot from beyond the arc. Freshman guard Akeem Richmond scored 12 of his 14 points in the opening period on 4-for-5 shooting from downtown.
NU kept it close in the early going with strong offense, going 6-of-12 in the first half from 3-point range, and the Cats even took a 22-20 lead on a Kyle Rowley dunk. It was the Cats’ first and only lead of the game.
“We just couldn’t put two and two together,” Thompson said. “We were able to do well offensively, but we just couldn’t get stops.”
The Rams took advantage of the Cats’ weak defense, entering intermission with a 37-30 lead. Things fell apart offensively for NU after that. Outside of their touch from downtown, the Cats shot only 40 percent from the field in the first half. In the second stanza the Cats were more willing to settle for worse looks from beyond the arc, taking 17 3-pointers but only connecting on three of them.
Thompson was essentially the only player able to connect in the second period, registering 16 points in the final 20 minutes. It wasn’t enough, as the Cats got no closer than three as the game-and season-slipped away.
“It’s definitely frustrating that our season had to end this way,” Thompson said. “We came prepared, we were playing well, but Rhode Island is a good team.”
