Cham-painful: Illinois completes sweep of Northwestern
Northwestern’s offense is going south. And so are its chances for locking up an NCAA tournament bid.
The Wildcats scored just 18 points on five total baskets in the second half as Illinois blew open a close game to post a 66-50 win and sweep the season series from its in-state rivals.
Since a stunning upset of then-No. 7 Wisconsin on Feb. 12, Northwestern has lost two of three, with double-digit losses to Maryland and Illinois bookending a narrow four-point win over Big Ten cellar dweller Rutgers. They have also lost four of their last six in the month of February.
Most experts think Northwestern needs one more win to solidify its first-ever trip to the Big Dance, as well as set a school record with a 21st victory. Now the Wildcats have just three more games (against Indiana, Michigan and Purdue), plus at least one game in the Big Ten tournament, to get it.
Bryant McIntosh led Northwestern with 16 points and Gavin Skelly was the only other Wildcat in double figures with 11. Dererk Pardon pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.
Illinois was led by Malcolm Hill’s 18 points, while Leron Black tallied 11.
Here are our three pointers on the road loss that dropped Northwestern’s record to 20-8, 9-6 in Big Ten play:
The Wildcats’ shooting woes continued: Northwestern’s offense once again struggled to put the ball in the basket, shooting 32.1 percent (18 of 56) for the game, including 22.2 percent (4 of 18) on 3-pointers. Scottie Lindsey, in his second game back from mono, looked like a shadow of his former self, hitting just 1 of 11 shots (and 0 for 4 on 3s) for 2 points, 13 below his season average. Vic Law, who battled foul trouble in his second straight game and fouled out in the closing minutes, failed to hit any of his four shots from the floor and scored just 3 points. That means two of Northwestern’s Big Three were a combined 1 for 15 shooting. That’s not going to cut it.
Northwestern’s offense had another major blackout: For the second straight game, the Wildcats had an extended scoring drought in the second half. And this one was epic. The Wildcats trailed 45-42 when Bryant McIntosh made a jumper with 10:27 left. They then missed their next 12 shots, until Nathan Taphorn canned a triple with 1:11 left. In the interim, Illinois' lead ballooned from 3 to 17 points. All NU had to show for the 9:16 stretch was eight free throws. Not many of the shots were open ones, either, as Illinois’ defense harassed the Wildcats all night. Northwestern suffered through a 6:59 stretch without a field goal against Rutgers.
It was more than the shooting, though: Yes, the Wildcats couldn’t find the bottom of the net with a road map, but this was a more complete loss than that. Northwestern committed eight turnovers in the first half and 11 for the game, against just five assists, a good indicator of just how inefficient the offense was. The Illini also outrebounded the Wildcats 42-30 and had more points off turnovers (14-8), assists (10-5), steals (6-2) and blocks (4-0). Northwestern may have been tired after playing on Saturday night, or maybe the pressure of making history by getting to the NCAAs is catching up to them. Whatever it is, the Wildcats have looked ragged this month and not like the team that built this resume.