Men’s basketball

D’Angelo Russell made Northwestern look silly.

Ohio State’s star freshman guard shredded the Wildcats’ defense to the tune of 33 points and six assists, routinely draining threes with a defender in his face and zipping bounce passes through windows nobody else could see. On one particular play, junior guard Tre Demps simply shrugged as he watched yet another Russell jumper sail into the net.

“I tried to fight over the screen,” Demps said, “I got over it, they isolated me, I thought I got a hand up … and he still made it.”

NU needed to contain the Buckeyes’ top threat in order to win, and they failed to do so Thursday night. But plenty of other things finally went right for the Cats. Beyond Russell, NU’s defense actually looked the best it has this season.

Ohio State’s next-highest scorer was forward Sam Thompson with an unspectacular 11 points. Russell was also the only Buckeye to score in the final eight minutes of the game. NU found success with greatly improved defensive switching — something the team has struggled with all season — and finally started running over screens instead of under them to prevent easy threes.

“Overall I thought our guys executed really well,” coach Chris Collins said. “We’re getting better every game.”

Beyond the defense, that improvement showed up in the little things. The Cats snatched six steals, five more than they had in their last game against Michigan, and turned them into 12 points. NU also won the rebound battle, 32-29, and had a whopping 12 offensive boards that led to 16 second chance points.

The team was an impressive 12-of-14 from the free-throw line and actually attempted more shots than Ohio State, a sign of better ball security and offensive production.

Collins continues to be disinterested in the idea of a moral victory, but the Cats have definitely improved since the start of Big Ten play and are clearly moving in the right direction. Sometimes a special player like Russell just ruins the night.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @BobbyPillote