Chances are that the thought crossed most Northwestern fans’ minds at some point during the frantic final minutes of the Wildcats’ game against Iowa on Sunday night. As they watched Northwestern’s 12-point lead evaporate over the last 2:54 in the face of Iowa’s full-court pressure and turn what looked like an easy victory into a gut-wrenching 80-79 loss, a little voice in the back of their heads may have said it.
“I wish B-Mac was out there.”
Thing is, Bryant McIntosh wishes he was out there, too. The former Northwestern point guard and the school’s all-time assist leader was suffering through those agonizing final few minutes seven time zones away, in Belgium, where he watched the game into the wee hours of the morning on the FoxSports app.
McIntosh, who just graduated last June, thinks that he takes these losses harder than even fans do.
“Yes, it’s hard because I want to help,” said McIntosh by Twitter direct message before a film session with his Belgian professional team, the Stella Artois Leuven Bears. “Those are my best friends. I want them all to do well and succeed.”
Northwestern could have certainly used McIntosh’s leadership and ballhandling ability in crunch time against the Hawkeyes. The Wildcats have been playing without a true point guard for most of the season – by necessity, not intention – and it showed as trapping defense wreaked havoc on Northwestern’s offense.
The Wildcats turned the ball over 10 times in the second half and hit just one of their final four shots and one of their last three free throws. That opened the door for Jordan Bohannon to score 11 points in the last 2:48, including the dagger: a 3-pointer with less than a second left that sealed the win for the No. 20 Hawkeyes.
During that helter-skelter end-game scenario, BTN analyst Robbie Hummell may have said it best: “You see fear in the eyes of some of these guards, and against the press, that’s a recipe for disaster,” he remarked.
And a disaster is just what ensued.
No one among ballhandlers Vic Law, A.J. Turner and Anthony Gaines looked like they wanted the ball in their hands as they faced the Hawkeyes withering press. Just getting the ball past the half-court line was an achievement for a Wildcat team that looked like it was playing hot potato with the basketball.
McIntosh watched it all unfold and sees how it happened.
“It’s so easy to play not to lose rather than playing to win in those situations,” said McIntosh, who is averaging 9.9 points and 3.2 assists per game in his first season with the Bears, who are scuffling at 3-10. “Iowa did a great job of crowding the half-court line with their length. I would have liked to see us attack the pressure better and spread the floor out a bit more to take their pressure away from the 10-second line.”
McIntosh thinks that those closing minutes is when the Wildcats needed a point guard to take charge. But overall, he doesn’t think a point guard is necessarily critical to the team’s success in other areas of the game.
“Coach Collins has revamped the offense from what I ran there,” he said. “So I think the issues we have with not having a (point guard) in the game is when teams are really pressuring and (the team needs) someone to direct traffic and get guys in places they need to be to be successful.”
With Law, Turner and Gaines having so many problems with pressure, was he surprised that head coach Chris Collins didn’t insert freshman Ryan Greer, the only true point guard on the roster? Could he have made a difference?
“It’s hard to say,” said McIntosh. “I think in those situations you want to go with your best guys on the floor. I also have always believed (that) it’s easy to say we should have done this or that. Coach will watch the film and look for things the guys could have done, but also what he could have done. He always takes responsibility in these situations, which is why he is a great coach.
“So yeah, maybe putting Greer in helps with the press, but he is also young (and) would be playing in a tough environment. So to say he would be a sure-fire fix is easy to say after the fact. But it could be something Coach may try if this team (is) in a similar situation.”
Collins did not plan to go into this season without a true point guard, of course. He recruited four-star Jordan Lathon, a 6-foot-4, Rivals150 prospect, to take over McIntosh’s lead guard role this season. However, Lathon’s admission was revoked by NU in late May for undisclosed reasons, leaving the team in a lurch.
Greer, whom Northwestern was recruiting for the 2019 class, reclassified and graduated early to sign with the Wildcats. The three-star, 6-foot-2 guard should be playing his senior year at Northfield (Mass.) Mt. Hermon in the New England prep school league; instead, he’s playing in the Big Ten.
McIntosh doesn’t necessarily think that Lathon, who now plays for UTEP, would have been the solution to all of the Wildcats’ problems. Besides, he thinks Greer can grow into the type of lead guard that he was for the Wildcats.
“Not having Jordan was a blow to the recruiting rankings, but truly I’m really impressed with Ryan Greer, AJ and AG (Gaines) and their development and potential,” he said. “I think that situation allowed us to get a great young PG to come who fits what Coach Collins is looking for (in) a PG… I think Greer has been very solid. He understands the game and will continue to grow and build confidence. I see he can run an offense and is crafty…
“I think coach will continue to recruit other PGs (Boo Buie signed with the Wildcats in November for 2019) after everyone seeing how important it is to have a PG to create and run a team. I know we have some great exciting guards coming in, but I do know Greer fits the kind of PG that coach loves to have. (He’s) smart, can run a team and execute the offense.”
Northwestern has certainly had trouble executing in the end of games. The Wildcats had chances to win games in the closing seconds against Indiana, Michigan and Oklahoma earlier in the season, but Sunday night’s implosion took the cake and made the pain of missing a true point man even more acute.
However, it’s easy to forget that even with McIntosh, one of the best to ever lace them up for the Purple & White, the Wildcats had problems closing out games. Even in their magic run to the NCAA Tournament in 2016-17, there were hiccups along the way. Butler beat them in the final minute after NU coughed up the ball on its final possession. Notre Dame finished on a 12-2 run to beat the Wildcats by four. In very similar fashion, Northwestern blew a seven-point lead with 1:33 left to lose by a point to Indiana.
If there was one silver lining amid the doom and gloom of Sunday night’s loss to the Hawkeyes, it’s that the Wildcats rediscovered their offense.
Vic Law, who shot just 24 percent over the previous eight games, lit up the Hawkeyes for 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting, even if he turned the ball over six times. Turner's 15 points were more than he's scored in two months, and Ryan Taylor's 16 were the most he's scored in a Big Ten game. The Wildcats’ 79 points were the most they have scored since an 88-46 rout of hapless Chicago State on Dec. 17, and the offense certainly looked much better than it did in scoring an average of just 50 points in their previous three dismal losses.
What’s more, McIntosh likes what he’s seen in terms of this team’s character.
“The thing I love about this team and such is they’ve shown toughness,” said McIntosh. “To keep returning and fighting when a lot of close games they have come up short is hard. It would be easy to mail the season in but they aren’t going to do that. We have fighters in that locker room.”
That, McIntosh, figures, should give the Wildcats a puncher’s chance in the remaining eight games of the season.
