Men’s Basketball

Before Monday, the last time Northwestern and Penn State played basketball marked the end of an era. On March 1, 2018, the Nittany Lions defeated the Wildcats in the Big Ten Tournament, 65-57, as Bryant McIntosh, Scottie Lindsey and Gavin Skelly played their final games in purple and white.

Monday’s game may not have had the same historic significance, but it was an important game for the 2018-19 team.

NU (12-10, 3-8 Big Ten) lost again to Penn State (8-14, 1-10) in a brutal 59-52 game at Welsh-Ryan Arena. For a team still hoping to make the NCAA Tournament, losing to a team that had not won a Big Ten contest all season was like a devastating jab to the Cats’ liver. It may not have knocked NU down, but it is a blow that is tough to come back from.

The game may have felt like deja vu. For the third straight game, the defense played well while the offense looked the opposite. The Cats shot 31.7 percent from the field, their third straight game missing more than two-thirds of their shots.

“You know what’s funny, they play much better at home than they do on the road, and I noticed they had been on the road a little bit,” Nittany Lions coach Pat Chambers said. “I was concerned at the three-point shooting at home. Truthfully. So we were just trying to switch, and stay high and take away threes.”

Once again, senior forward Vic Law struggled from the field. After starting the season looking like a potential All-Big Ten player, the South Holland, Illinois native has been anything but since the calendar turned to 2019.

In eight games in 2019, Law has failed to shoot better than 33 percent from the field in a contest. He has failed to score more than 13 points after scoring at least 13 in the first 11 games of the season, and his scoring average has dropped about four points. Plus, he has been dealing with a knee injury that kept him out of a game against Michigan.

Monday might have been Law’s worst shooting performance of the season — 3-for-17 from the field, 2-for-8 from three and 10 points scored in over 38 minutes of action. Law did manage to grab a game-high 10 rebounds and dish out a game-high six assists, but his night was still one to forget.

“I thought he was more aggressive tonight,” coach Chris Collins said. “He has to handle the ball for us a lot… and it affects your ability to be in an aggressive mindset when you are in that role. I have no worries…nothing about me feels like Vic is not going to bounce back.”

Law was not the only one to have a rough day from the field. Freshman forward Miller Kopp was 2-for-9, junior forward A.J. Turner was 2-for-7 and graduate guard Ryan Taylor was 2-for-5.

Sophomore guard Anthony Gaines had a solid shooting performance in the first half, but he acquired his fourth personal foul three minutes into the second half and had to sit for 11 minutes before returning and then fouling out.

Down in the post, senior center Dererk Pardon proved to be an efficient option. He finished 8-for-14 with 18 points and nine rebounds. In the second half, Pardon demanded the ball almost every possession and battled every single time down the floor to gain position in the post.

On defense, the Cats were sound. Lamar Stevens may have scored 18 points on 5-for-11 shooting for Penn State, but he was not a factor for good stretches of the game. In total, NU allowed only five made jumpers in the game. Collins said the team did a good job of closing out on shooters but struggled to contain drives.

In the Penn State locker room after the game, DMX blasted from the speakers as the team enjoyed its first Big Ten victory of the season. The NU locker room, after suffering arguably its worst loss of the year, was much different.

“It’s always tough after a loss,” Pardon said. “When you go through those fights with your teammates and don’t come out the way you expect it to, you are going to be down.”

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Twitter: @thepeterwarren