Thursday night belonged to Alex Marcotullio.
The senior guard’s final game at Welsh-Ryan Arena will be memorable despite the fact Northwestern could not pull out the victory. Marcotullio set a career high with 22 points and hit a career-best six 3-pointers in the Wildcats’ 66-59 loss to Penn State.
“It hurts,” Marcotullio said. “I wanted to go out on top here, but sadly that’s not the case. I left everything out there and so did (senior guard Reggie Hearn) and everyone else. I’m just happy to be a part of this great program and university.”
Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said he expected Marcotullio to have a big night.
Marcotullio entered the night shooting a career low from behind the arc, stuck at 30 percent for the season. Thursday night, the senior hit 67 percent of his shots, all of which came from behind the three-point line.
Marcotullio’s night was overshadowed by a plethora of Cats’ (13-17, 4-13 Big Ten) errors that allowed the Nittany Lions (10-19, 2-15) to escape Evanston with their second Big Ten win. NU’s mistakes began with 10 first-half turnovers, which led to 16 points for Penn State on the other end. The Cats ended the game with 15 turnovers, but the Nittany Lions did not capitalize on them in the second half.
Many of the turnovers came at crucial points where NU had a chance to limit the damage or take control of the game. Coach Bill Carmody said he can understand if his team had an emotional letdown at the beginning of the game, but he criticized his guards’ decision-making on the floor, which led to all the turnovers.
“We were careless,” Carmody said. “We were throwing the ball to trapping spots right over half court. It was probably some combination of emotion and just a little carelessness.”
Most of the early turnovers came against Penn State’s three-quarters court press, something Carmody said the team should have been ready for. Hearn said NU had prepared for the press and were able to break it during practice, but could not translate that success to the game.
“We didn’t handle their press very well,” Hearn said. “We knew they were going to play that 1-2-2 trap, and we didn’t execute like we had in practice.”
NU did not do itself any favors starting each half. The Nittany Lions scored the first 12 points of the contest in the first five minutes and the first 7 points in the second stanza. The Cats had five turnovers before they scored their first points of the game, including two giveaways from Marcotullio, who ended the game with five.
Penn State committed 16 turnovers, leading to 15 points for NU, but the big discrepancy remained in the paint. The Nittany Lions outscored the Cats 28-12 in the interior, and NU’s big men had no answer for the numerous drives to the hole from Penn State’s guards. In addition, the Nittany Lions scored 11 points off 10 offensive rebounds.
“We just weren’t able to establish anything inside,” Carmody said. “There wasn’t enough pressure on the ball. There has to be pressure on the passer so they can’t see it. We have to get some deflections and hands on passes.”
Both seniors received standing ovations as they left the court. Hearn said he was too frustrated with picking up his fifth foul to soak up the moment and would appreciate it more in the hours after leaving the arena. Carmody said all the right things about his seniors and how much they meant to the Cats.
“Both of these guys since they came here, they’ve played with a passion,” Carmody said. “Both of them are good players and very good teammates, and we’re going to miss them.”
