Deja vu: This time, Radford stuns Northwestern
EVANSTON-If you thought Merrimack was an anomaly, think again.
Radford, from the Big South conference, came into Welsh-Ryan Arena and left with a comfortable 67-56 victory over the Wildcats.
It was Northwestern’s second loss to a mid-major conference team after losing the season opener to Merrimack. In between, the Wildcats beat Providence from the Big East. Go figure.
Carlick Jones led the way for Radford with 20 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds. Pete Nance was the lone bright spot for Northwestern with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists.
Northwestern got off to a promising start, breaking out to a 12-4 lead 16:04 into the first half. Pat Spencer led the way during that span with 7 points and an assist.
But what followed was a massive scoring drought that spanned 11:29 without a point and 13 minutes without a field goal. During that time, Radford’s physicality and scrappy nature piled on the points. The Highlanders saw eight different players score, with no one in double digits. By halftime, the Wildcats trailed 31-17.
The second half saw more of the same, as Radford jumped out to a 47-26 lead with 12:19 left. The Highlanders maintained it until Northwestern made a late 11-0 run, led by Nance, to cut the deficit 56-46 with 4:24 left.
But the Wildcats could get no closer than eight points the rest of the way as Radford pulled off the upset.
Here are our takeaways from the loss that dropped Northwestern to 1-2 on the season:
Collins is focused on player development, even if it costs NU games: After Northwestern jumped out to a 12-4 lead, head coach Chris Collins brought in freshmen Boo Buie, Robbie Beran and Jared Jones. Three turnovers followed and they were quickly pulled.
That seemed to put the offense in a rut that ended in the scoring drought that lasted more than 11 minutes – more than half of the opening period.
“It was frustrating,” said Collins. “We went to our bench guys and we went out of sorts, and we never recovered from that.”
But Collins continued heavily rotating guys in and out until crunch time. In years past, Collins stuck to tight rotations. This year, however, Collins sees playing the young guys now as an investment in the future – even if it hurts in the present.
“We’re three games in,” he said. “We’re gonna develop this team, we’re committed to it, to this process.”
This team will live and die on the confidence of its young players: Northwestern shot 33% from the field and a measly 3-for-21 from the 3-point arch against the Highlanders. This, after shooting 60% and 44%, respectively, against an objectively better team in Providence in its last game.
Collins spoke about the youth of the team when explaining why there was such a difference between the two performances.
“Outside of (Anthony) Gaines and (A.J.) Turner, this is brand new for these guys…” he said. “We really got into a bind offensively and we couldn't get out of it.”
Gaines and Turner combined for just 7 points on 2-for-7 shooting.
Will the real Wildcats please stand up? While Radford went 22-11 last season, they already had losses to Liberty and Georgia Southern on its record before stunning Northwestern. Merrimack, which upset the Wildcats in the opener, has losses to Maine, Dartmouth and – ironically – Providence on its ledger. In between, the Wildcats knocked off what most experts think is a bona fide tournament team in Providence.
If that’s not a rollercoaster start, we don’t know what is.
Northwestern used a zone defense to surprise Providence, but shooting numbers told the story in all three outcomes. In the Wildcats’ two losses, they shot below 40% from the field and, unbelievably, less than 15% from long distance. It’s hard to beat anyone when you hit just 5-of-37 3-pointers over two games.
In their one win, the Wildcats shot 48.9% from the field and 43.8% from beyond the arc.