EVANSTON-Northwestern once again found itself in a tight game against a Big Six opponent on Monday night. But this time, Bryant McIntosh wouldn’t let his team lose.
The star junior took over for the Wildcats, scoring 19 of his game-high 23 points in the second half in a 65-58 win over Wake Forest in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
McIntosh’s heroics were a far cry from his performance in crunch time in narrow losses to Butler and Notre Dame. He hit his last eight shots from the floor and scored eight straight points for the Wildcats after the game was tied at 53 with 3:24 left.
“It’s about time,” cracked McIntosh, who shot a combined 6-for-29 over the last two games.
Scottie Lindsey scored 12 and Vic Law 10 for Northwestern, while Sanjay Lumpkin had a team-high 7 rebounds. Gavin Skelly came off the bench to add 11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks and unquantifiable energy for the Wildcats.
Wake Forest big man John Collins had an impressive all-around game in a losing effort, collecting 12 points, 16 rebounds and 2 blocks.
But in the end, it was McIntosh’s night.
Here are our three pointers on the win that lifts Northwestern’s record to 5-2:
The Mac Attack is back: McIntosh simply put the team on his shoulders down the stretch. Head coach Chris Collins thought that McIntosh’s three straight drives to the basket halfway through the second period were the turning point for a scorer who had had been slumping. In the first half, McIntosh hit just 2 of 8 shots. He wound up posting a second-half stat line that looked LeBron-esque: 8-for-8 form the floor, including 2-for-2 from beyond the arc, and 1-for-2 on free throws. McIntosh put on a show, dishing a between-the-defender’s-legs pass to a cutting Gavin Skelly, hitting a soft jumper over the outstretched hand of Collins and converting a 3-point play on another drive into traffic in the lane. His biggest shot was his last: a 3-pointer from the left baseline that gave the Wildcats a 56-53 lead with 3:13 left. They wouldn’t trail again.
Lumpkin was the unsung hero: While McIntosh drew raves for his performance, Collins opened the post-game press conference by talking about Lumpkin. “I just can’t say enough about Sanjay Lumpkin...he was magnificent,” he said. The 6-foot-6 Lumpkin drew the unenviable task of having to guard the 6-foot-10 Collins, the Deacons’ NBA prospect. After Dererk Pardon left the game with a hand injury, Lumpkin had to check Collins for the last seven minutes of the game almost exclusively. Collins scored just 4 points in the second half as Lumpkin focused on pushing him as far off the block as he could. Lumpkin was no slouch on the other end, either, hitting 4-of-7 shots for 10 points to go along with his 7 rebounds and 3 steals. He also scored the last two baskets on breakaways to salt the game away in the closing seconds.
NU’s defense rose to the occasion: Chris Collins called the game “a good, old-fashioned fistfight.” Wake Forest came in averaging 86.3 points per game and shooting 43.9 percent on 3-pointers, best in the ACC and No. 10 in the nation. But against the Wildcats’ stifling man-to-man defense, the Deacons shot just 31.1 percent from the floor, 23.8 percent from beyond the arc and scored nearly 30 points below their average. Northwestern caused 19 turnovers, several of them turning into instant offense. "We had to will that game,” said Collins. “It wasn't going to be a pretty game...our defense was going to win that game."
