Men’s Basketball

Vic Law’s long-awaited return from injury last Friday — a game in which the sophomore forward scored a career-high 18 points — would’ve been nearly perfect if not for his 1-for-7 mark at the free-throw line.

On Monday against Eastern Washington, those struggles at the charity stripe disappeared and the sophomore forward enjoyed another career-best performance.

“The first game, I missed all the free throws because I wanted to set a new one tonight,” he joked afterwards.

Law’s 26-point eruption, including 9 from 10 free-throw attempts, helped Northwestern (2-0, 0-0 Big Ten) escape the Eagles’ upset bid with an 86-72 win in front of 5,604 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

“I really liked how he attacked the basket,” Collins said. “For a guy that went 1-for-7 at the foul line last game, you might have a tendency to not want to get fouled, because you don’t want to go back to the line. And he gets himself to the free throw line 10 times tonight and makes nine of them. Those are the little things I’m proud about because it shows his aggressive nature.”

Four others also scored in double digits for the Wildcats, which played only seven players for more than four minutes in the game. Junior guard Bryant McIntosh tallied 18 points and seven assists, sophomore center Dererk Pardon chalked up 12 points and five blocks and freshman guard Isiah Brown and junior guard Scottie Lindsey joined the group too.

NU roared out of the gate and led 24-9 after eight and a half minutes, but a dominant first half from Eastern Washington forward Bogdan Bliznyuk — who scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting — allowed the Eagles (1-1) to cut the lead to 46-38 at halftime.

The visitors kept it close well into the second frame, trailing by as little as 6 points on multiple occasions, but Bliznyuk managed only five points after the break and the Cats pulled away in the final 10 minutes.

Both teams shot over 48 percent for the game, but NU’s ability to limit turnovers and convert its free throws ultimately made the difference. The Cats committed only five turnovers and made 23-of-26 attempts at the line — a far cry from their subpar 19-for-29 mark against Mississippi Valley State.

McIntosh said the team game-planned to slow down Bliznyuk in the second half by guarding him closely with a number of different players — and often several at once.

“They’re a very good outside shooting team, but he’s so crafty, so we had to shrink the floor a little bit more,” McIntosh said. “I thought the guys that guarded him in the second half, they really locked into his tendencies. And then Dererk Pardon … rotating over with his length makes shots pretty tough for (Bliznyuk) too I thought.”

Adopting a team-based approach to defending Bliznyuk allowed Law, who was initially assigned to cover the Eagles’ star, to then take over the game on his own.

Law frustrated Eastern Washington’s defense with his backdoor cuts towards the basket and athletic finishes at the rim. And when the Eagles were able to stop Law or another NU player from getting to the hoop, Law frequently found ways to get open on the perimeter, making 3-of-4 shots from 3-point range.

“It’s not easy to sit out a year and come back and just jump right in and play,” Collins said. “He’s a really good player, we knew that when we got him, and it’s nice to know that he’s back, he’s healthy and he’s confident.”

This story was updated at 12:24 with quotes.

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