Men’s Basketball

With Northwestern riding high and holding a 48-39 lead with a little more than 10 minutes to go against Ohio State, the Buckeyes settled into a two-thirds-court press, hoping to force the Wildcats into turnovers that could fuel a comeback.

Six NU turnovers and a game-ending 32-15 Ohio State run later, the Cats (16-9, 4-8) were left searching for answers to opposing pressure after a disheartening 71-63 loss in Columbus.

NU ran out to a 33-26 lead after the first half despite eight turnovers, limiting damage by preventing easy fast-break baskets off live-ball turnovers. But it was only a matter of time before the long, athletic Buckeyes (15-10, 7-5) found their stride and turned defense into offense, with the dam finally breaking in the second half.

Coach Chris Collins said Ohio State’s move to a press led to the game slipping away from his team.

“We had some critical turnovers; I thought (the press) sped us up a little bit,” Collins said. “(It) ignited their crowd and got them going.”

First, senior guard Tre Demps turned the ball over on two straight possessions, turning into a quick floater in transition for Buckeyes forward Keita Bates-Diop and a breakaway dunk for Buckeyes guard JaQuan Lyle that cut the Cats’ lead to 48-47 with 8 minutes and 33 seconds left to play and forced Collins to call a timeout. Demps had the dubious honor of leading the Cats in turnovers against the Buckeyes with four.

On top of struggles with ball security, NU’s initial attempts to break Ohio State’s 1-2-2 press seemed odd, with the team stationing sophomore forward Gavin Skelly in the backcourt as an outlet for sophomore guard Bryant McIntosh instead of a more seasoned ball-handler. Demps said the decision was an intentional attempt to give him a chance to make plays against a scrambled defense once the press was broken.

But the move bit the Cats with 8 minutes and 22 seconds remaining, as Skelly dribbled into trouble and had a crosscourt pass stolen by Buckeyes guard Kam Williams, although Ohio State failed to capitalize on the ensuing possession.

Collins said NU knew Ohio State had the press up its sleeve and had prepared for it, but said execution in a game atmosphere is different than in practice.

“Preparing for their length and their size and the game pressure with the crowd is different than doing it in practice,” he said. “That’s where you’ve got to be strong with the ball, got to want the ball.”

Things didn’t get better when Demps replaced Skelly as the release valve in the backcourt. About 2 minutes after the Skelly turnover, Demps failed to clear the halfcourt line, resulting in a 10-second violation. And with 4 minutes and 17 seconds left, the senior fired a pass upcourt, out of the reach of sophomore guard Scottie Lindsey and into the courtside seats.

Demps took responsibility for his mistakes after the game and said the team needed more composure in the face of the Buckeyes’ pressure.

“I rushed a lot of decisions,” he said. “(The press) sped us up, which let them get easy buckets, and that kind of gave them momentum and changed the game.”

NU managed to tie the game at 56 with under 4 minutes to go, but the constant turnovers in the prior minutes burned away the Cats’ cushion and left them unprepared to withstand an Ohio State run at the end of the game. Against one of the top defenses in the conference, NU’s missed opportunities in that stretch due to bad ballhandling and poor decisions were too much to overcome.

With Iowa’s pressure crushing the Cats in a Jan. 31 loss and now Ohio State having success attacking NU with a press, Demps said he expects opponents will look to get after the Cats in a similar fashion going forward.

“We’ve got to learn from it,” he said. “We’ve just got to get back to the drawing board and figure out how we can be better in the press.”

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