SACRAMENTO-A season that began with very low expectations in Evanston ended with a valiant effort in a second-round NCAA Tournament game in Sacramento, Calif.
One of the best seasons in Northwestern history came to a close on Saturday night with a heartbreaking 68-63 loss to No. 2-seed UCLA.
UCLA overwhelmed the seventh-seeded Wildcats with swarming pressure defensively to build a 35-25 halftime lead, but Northwestern stormed back behind a heroic effort from their star backcourt of Chase Audige and Boo Buie. They combined for 34 points, 29 of those coming in the second half.
But the Bruins finished the season ranked second in the AP poll for a reason. They weathered Northwestern's run and never flinched when the Wildcats tied the game with 11:26 to go or when the Wildcats cut it to three with 2:39 left.
It wasn't easy, though. They leaned on their stars to carry them, and their big three of Jaime Jaquez, Tyger Campbell and Amari Bailey logged 38 minutes each. Jaquez led the Bruins with 24 points, Bailey added 14 and Campbell finished with 12 points from 12 free throws.
Head coach Chris Collins was filled with pride after the game for how his team went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the nation.
"We have a fighter's spirit," Collins said. "We go to the next play. If we get knocked down, we keep fighting, we keep battling.
"I could not have been prouder of my guys. I think as a coach, all you ever really ask for is for your guys to leave it on the floor and give everything they have, emotionally and physically. We did all that."
Here are our takeaways from Northwestern's season finale:
UCLA beat Northwestern at its own game: Defense has been the soundtrack of Northwestern's success all season, and unfortunately they ran into someone who played their songs better.
The Bruins outscored the Wildcats 15-6 in points off turnovers, stifling ball screens with double teams to create deflections and turnovers with long arms and swift rotations. And, just like Northwestern, UCLA dared their opponent to knock down long shots over hard close-outs.
The Wildcats couldn't make them pay down the stretch. After an exemplary shooting night against Boise State where Northwestern hit 49% of their shots and 38.1% of their threes, those numbers plummeted to 37% and 27%, respectively, against the Bruins.
"I told these guys, it's like playing us, because we try to turn you over," UCLA head coach Mick Cronin said. "The turnovers were even, and then we lost with offensive rebounds."
Even though Northwestern made huge strides on the offensive glass, UCLA's ability to protect the rim thwarted their attacks. Not since All-American center Zach Edey had the Wildcats seen a rim protector of Adem Bona's caliber, and the freshman finished with a pair of blocks and impacted plenty of other shots.
Even with an injury to star Jaylen Clark, this UCLA defense is one of the best in the country. They rank first in KenPom, and have a laundry list of other accolades and analytics to their name. This loss stings, but the Bruins are prepared to make a deep tournament run and their defense is their engine.
Matt Nicholson set a career high at the best time: In the biggest game of the season, Matt Nicholson decided it was time for his career high. He put up 17 points, even hitting three of his four free throws, and singlehandedly kept the Bruins from racing off into the Sacramento sunset.
With UCLA up 28-15, in danger of doubling up the Wildcats late in the first half, Nicholson scored six straight points. The Bruins have a talented defense, but Nicholson navigated it admirably. He had soft hands and strong finishes in the first half, when he had 10 points on four dunks and a layup, and it kept Northwestern alive to make their second-half run.
"I'm just so proud of Matt, I think these guys are, too," Collins said with Buie and Audige flanking him." Matt for the last couple years -- it takes time for big guys. He's 7-1, 270 pounds. It takes time. But when you have a big guy who's committed to working, and also you have a big guy who's competitive and tough and wants to be [good], then they get better."
Collins continued to sing Nicholson's praises and is looking forward to his next couple years in purple.
"I'm excited about Matt's future," Collins said. "This was a great year for him, and to cap it off the way he did tonight was pretty fun for me to watch."
The offensive rebounding script flipped: In the first round against Boise State, Northwestern was beaten 20-9 in offensive rebounds. Against UCLA, the Wildcats turned that around and beat the Bruins 14-3 on the offensive glass.
It was a total reversal of a key dynamic in the final game of the season, and a testament to this team's ability to listen to coaching, evolve and make changes in just 48 hours. Collins walked through how the team made the change at the postgame press conference.
"We had a nice little film session yesterday," Collins said with a chuckle. "We showed about all 20 of those offensive rebounds, just to make the point.
"We told our guys that if they gave up 20 offensive rebounds, we might as well go home. These guys responded like they have for us all year long. They took the challenge, took it on."
In a tough shooting night, the Wildcats needed all the chances they could get. They mustered just eight second-chance points off their 14 second chances, but it instilled a physicality into the game and changed the tempo in ways that helped Northwestern continue to compete against a team that was bigger, better, faster and stronger on paper.
"The reason the game was close is they had 14 offensive rebounds," Cronin said. "They took 15 more shots than us."
Northwestern established an identity, even in a loss: Northwestern should keep their heads held high after this game. They put up a great effort against one of the most talented and experienced teams in the country.
UCLA has a laundry list of personal and team accolades this season. It's important to remember in the midst of all the upsets that most of the top seeds in the tournament are there for a reason, and that even though the Wildcats went cold late and couldn't pull off the upset, they gave one of the best teams in the nation a serious run for its money.
While other Big Ten teams struggled to translate their regular season success to the Big Dance, Northwestern executed their philosophy against UCLA and pushed them to the absolute brink. They established an identity this season around a bristling defense, elite guard play and a rotation of diverse play styles.
"I just think the way our guys approached this year and with the mindset we have, I think we've created an identity," Collins said. "I think for a lot of years, maybe that was my mistake, you kind of come into every year and you're trying to figure out this is our group, how do we figure out how to win?
"I never felt like we had an identity of our program. I think what these guys have done is they've set an identity to our program, identity of work, identity of toughness, identity of defense, that I think will carry over."
