Junior guard Jordan Clayton almost exclusively takes 3-point shots.
He has taken more than five times the number of shots beyond the arc than inside it. But prior to Wednesday night’s game against Maryland, he’d been shooting just 31.5% from downtown.
Down by six in the middle of the second half, though, Clayton led Northwestern on a 22-4 scoring run, going 4-for-4 from downtown in the Wildcats’ (11-16, 3-13 Big Ten) 78-74 victory over the Terrapins (10-16, 3-12 Big Ten).
“I thought his shooting in the second half really gave everybody confidence,” coach Chris Collins said.
Clayton finished 6-for-7 from 3-point range. Maryland made no field goals for nearly the final five minutes until it broke its drought with six seconds left in the game to cut the Wildcats’ lead to five.
The Terrapins then fouled Clayton, who went 1-for-2, and Maryland redshirt freshman Andre Mills made a 3-pointer, cutting the lead to one score with 1.9 seconds remaining. But sophomore guard Angelo Ciaravino quickly iced the game as he made the back half of a trip to the free-throw line to seal the game for NU.
“It felt great to go back to the locker room and see smiles, to see guys spraying water, to see guys hugging teammates, knowing that they did something good,” Collins said.
The second half began with the teams trading baskets before the Terrapins went on two scoring runs of six and seven points to take their largest lead of the game.
NU led by a slight margin for nearly all of the first half, though Maryland went on a 6-0 run to end the half 35-34, cutting the ’Cats’ lead to one. The 6-0 run was the largest run of consecutive points in the first half.
Mills had a game- and career-high 39 points. He finished the first half with 22 of Maryland’s 34 points, and at one point had 20 of its 26 points.
Earlier in the season, Mills was taken out of the starting lineup for a stretch of Big Ten games. But since returning to the starting lineup, the Terrapins are 2-3, and Mills has scored double-digit points in four of five contests.
Mills and senior forward Nick Martinelli began the game with a combined 8-for-9 shooting, and each had 11 points in the first nine minutes. Martinelli, though, cooled off after a 4-for-4 shooting start and finished the half 5-for-8 shooting. He finished the game 9-for-17 shooting with 29 points, his best shooting percentage in six games.
“He puts so much pressure on himself,” Collins said. “He really felt badly about the last few games, not his efficiency, and I felt he’d gotten a little bit worn down with the schedule.”
The ’Cats finished the game shooting 12-for-21 from beyond the arc, and of all the NU players who attempted 3-pointers, only junior guard Jayden Reid did not make 50% or more of his attempts.
The ’Cats had three players with more than 15 points in Martinelli, Clayton and Ciaravino.
“We’ve shown that we can compete with any team in this conference,” Martinelli said. “We just haven’t been able to close games out.”
Junior center Arrinten Page did not play in the second half because of a leg injury, according to Collins.
NU will look to win back-to-back Big Ten games for the first time this season when it travels to Bloomington to face the Indiana Hoosiers on Tuesday.
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