With a 21-point lead, the shot clock turned off and the result of Sunday’s game against Columbia well-decided, Vic Law dribbled out the game clock. After Northwestern had an underwhelming start to the game, the senior forward held onto the ball until the clock expired and saw this result through to the end.

At one point in the Wildcats’ first game following winter vacation, they were down 16-12 and senior center Dererk Pardon was dealing with foul trouble, but Law added a routine 21 points, five rebounds and five assists in NU’s (9-4, 0-2 Big Ten) 75-54 win over the Lions (3-9).

If the Cats are able to dig out of their 0-2 hole in the Big Ten when conference play resumes next week, it will be because Law will be performing at this elevated level while playing major minutes as well.

“That’s what [Law’s] done all year,” coach Chris Collins said. “[Pardon] got in foul trouble and we were struggling to put the ball in the basket, then I thought he hit some big shots and kind of took the lid off the hole.”

Pardon had another double-double and finished the game with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Coming off the worst 3-point shooting performance in the Chris Collins era, graduate guard Ryan Taylor rebounded with 21 points and a team-high 38 minutes.

For a team that hasn’t been getting as much production as it expected from its fifth starter this season, Taylor’s showing was a positive change of pace.

“He’s really worked at it,” Collins said. “He’s a prolific shooter, has been his whole career, but hasn’t shot it as well. But he’s been in the gym, he’s been working and it’s good to see that pay off.“

After Law and Taylor led the Cats on a 20-12 run to start the second half, the Cats were able to close out the last nonconference game of the season relatively comfortably, but it was still tight enough that Law had to close the game and provide another performance where he carried more than his own weight.

With NU returning to conference play on Jan. 2 at No. 8 Michigan State, Collins plans to keep relying on his senior core.

“We can’t panic,” Collins said. “We got a great opportunity ahead of us in East Lansing, again one of the premier programs and teams in the country.”

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Twitter: @2021_charlie