March Madness Takeaways: Northwestern 75, Boise State 67
SACRAMENTO-On the biggest stage of the season, Northwestern's stars shined brightest.
The Wildcats flew all the way out to the West Coast and delivered a 75-67 win over Boise State to advance to the Round of 32.
It was an amazing back-and-forth battle between two teams who brought their best, but Northwestern's backcourt and stingy defense wore down the Broncos and earned the Wildcats the second NCAA Tournament win in school history.
Boo Buie led all scorers with 22 points, and it was really the whole group of Northwestern's guards that put on a show. Buie was the tip of the spear like always, but Audige and Berry played some of their best basketball this season, with 20 and 13 points, respectively.
Boise State never took the lead but threw some haymakers that closed the gap throughout. The Broncos lived up to their billing, playing a team-oriented game, capitalizing on mistakes and distributing their scoring.
Max Rice led Boise State with 17 points, as four of BSU's five starters cracked double digits. All except Tyson Degenhart, the season's leading scorer who finished with eight.
"It's all about survive and advance, right?" Collins said. "That's what they talk about in March Madness.
"Fortunately there's a lot of things we can do better, but we were able to come away with a great win and excited to have an opportunity to play on Saturday."
Northwestern advances to take on the winner of 15th-seeded UNC-Asheville and second-seeded UCLA on Saturday.
Here are our takeaways from Northwestern's first win of the 2023 NCAA Tournament:
Buie played just as great in the NCAA as he did in the Big Ten: When the lights were brightest, Buie was at his best. He poured in 22 points and was able to get to his spots with ease.
For the first time this year, Buie didn't have to face a Big Ten defense and it showed. He glided around the court, consistently hitting a gear on his drives and cuts that no one else on the floor could match. They don't give out first-team All-Big Ten honors like after-dinner mints, and Buie put his stamp all over this game.
It wasn't just scoring; Buie had complete mastery of the game. He had the aforementioned 22 to go with five rebounds, five assists and just one turnover in 36 minutes of play -- all while Boise State built their entire game plan to stop him.
Buie took a moment to reflect in the post-game press conference about how far he has come through this program under Collins' tutelage.
"I probably wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Coach [Collins]," Buie said. "I was super under-recruited. He gave me my first and only high-major scholarship. It was my commitment since day one to help him out and just do anything I could.
"He put the ball in my hands since a freshman. He just believed in me. Each year I've gotten better, he's helped me get better. Helped me see the game, read it, slow it down for me. It's just been an awesome four years. I wouldn't rather be anywhere else."
Audige and Berry delivered on the biggest stage: The pressure continued to build as the cold spell stretched on longer and longer for Audige and Berry this season, but they snapped out of it at the perfect time.
Audige played arguably his best game of the season, scoring 20 points on 5-for-12 shooting from the field, 3-for-8 from three and 7-for-8 from the line in 38 minutes. This game would be exemplary in a vacuum, but it's even more outstanding in context.
This was Audige's first game with 20 or more since January, and he had made six field goals in the last three games before this one. He put it all together to lift Northwestern up to a win in the Big Dance.
Normally, that would quality as the best single-game turnaround, but that honor goes to one of Audige's backcourt running mates, Berry.
Berry was on a similar glacial offensive stretch. This was Berry's highest scoring performance since mid-February, and he had just one field goal in three of his last five games.
Tonight, the junior guard was on fire and totally fearless. He poured in 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting, his best shooting percentage of the season. Save for his 26-point explosion against Nebraska, this was Berry's best game of the season as well.
Lesser players with less trust from the staff and their teammates might have let the accumulating pressure of poor shooting mix with the bright lights of the NCAA Tournament and a national broadcast and fall to pieces. Instead, Berry and Audige rebounded to lead this team to a win. With unwavering confidence, and finally the delivery to match, they merged with Buie to create the perfect backcourt hydra to beat Boise State.
"Whatever sport you're in, when you get to where it really matters, your best players have to be there for you," Collins said.
This was a performance this team deserved: After a roller coaster last few weeks that saw Northwestern go 1-4 in their final five games, it was a sigh of relief and a swell of pride to see the Wildcats beat Boise State in Sacramento.
It felt like this team played whack-a-mole all season long offensively, and it finally all came together tonight. Their backcourt weathered the storm as Boise State shot 57% from the field in the first half, and took over the game down the stretch as the Broncos went cold.
This team fought through adversity all season long, proved every doubter under the sun wrong, and took their place alongside their 2016-17 predecessors at the pinnacle of this program. One of the most touching momets was a heartfelt embrace between Buie and Audige, this team's offensive and defensive engines who have been through so much together.
"I went up to him and just told him I was proud of him, how proud I was of his leadership," Buie said about what he told Audige during the embrace. "Before the game we were kind of quiet as a group. Chase was kind of the first person to say something, then I kind of followed along after him, then it was kind of us two leading the way.
"I was telling him, way to play, super proud of you, we're moving on. It's been Chase and [me] this whole way leading this thing. Our leadership. It feels good. I was just letting him know how proud of him I am and how much I love him."
Audige replied, "I love you, too."
That love, that trust and that shared vision has this team ready to go to war, likely against the big, bad second-seed UCLA Bruins, who played UNC Asheville in the nightcap for the right to advance against the Wildcats.
"When there's only 32 teams left, everybody's really good," Collins said. "We have got to really focus and be at our best. That's what we're going to hope to be on Saturday."