Grad transfer guard Pat Spencer made a dunk midway through the second half against Indiana that felt like a huge momentum shift — like Northwestern may have been about to turn the corner and win their first Big Ten game this season.

It didn’t turn out that way, but not without a fight from Spencer, the Wildcats’ leading scorer Wednesday with 15 points.

With breakout freshman guard Boo Buie still out indefinitely, Spencer is NU’s primary — and in some lineups only — guard. In the past two games, the Cats have started a lineup with Spencer at guard, with sophomore forwards Miller Kopp and Pete Nance and freshman forward Robbie Beran, with freshman center Ryan Young.

The Cats rely on Spencer to provide leadership and maturity as one of the few upperclassmen on the roster. With 20 points in 39 minutes on Sunday at Minnesota, and 15 points in 35 minutes Wednesday at Indiana, he has delivered as of late. The grad transfer notoriously spent his past four years playing college lacrosse at Loyola Maryland, but with multiple NCAA tournament appearances and a 2018 Patriot League Championship — he understands what it takes to win.

Spencer has been inconsistent after scoring double digits in his first two games. He scored 23 against Bradley on Nov. 25 and 18 against Pittsburgh on Nov. 27, but zero points against Purdue on Dec. 8 and just one against Norfolk State on Nov. 22. With NU’s lack of depth at guard, Spencer needed to find the consistency he lacked earlier in the season, and the past two games suggest he is on track to find it.

“They jumped out on us early in the game, which they do a lot here at home,” coach Chris Collins said. “I thought their pace really knocked us back. Then we settled into the game, and I thought for the next 25-30 minutes we really played good basketball.”

Spencer’s last points came with 11:59 left in the second half, to put the Cats up 50-40. His absence was felt as NU floundered at the end of the game, relinquishing that 10 point lead to their eventual 66-62 loss. Spencer was a key part of their scoring runs, scoring eight of the 17 points in their run to end the first half. In order for the Cats to win these close games, Spencer will need to have a greater presence down the stretch, but his recent offensive resurgence creates optimism that he’ll be able to make it happen in the future.

“Playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores, for them to come out execute the way they did, and put us into position to win the game late, there’s a lot of positives in that,” Collins said. “But now, you’ve got to get over the hump. Getting close can’t be enough.”

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