Everything was looking up for Northwestern.
Pete Nance hit a hook shot with 4:24 left in the game to put the Wildcats ahead by four, 73-69. The Cats were set up to get their first win in nearly a month.
Northwestern then went on a 3:48 scoring drought, allowing Penn State to rattle off a 10-0 run on its way to an 81-78 win on Saturday night in State College, Pa.
It was the seventh straight loss for Northwestern, which hasn't won a game since a Dec. 26 victory over Ohio State. At least this one close -- it's the first one of the seven that wasn't a double-digit defeat.
Northwestern was paced by its three best players. Boo Buie had his best game since December, scoring 18 points and adding four assists. Miller Kopp led the Wildcats with 19, while Pete Nance added 17.
Ryan Young was also in double-digits with 10.
Penn State was led by 21 points from Izaiah Brockington. Seth Lundy added 16 and some key buckets down the stretch.
Here are our takeaways from the Cats' seventh straight defeat, which leaves them with a record of 6-8 overall and 3-7 in Big Ten play:
The stars shined: Northwestern has been waiting to get big performances from their top three players on the same night, and they got it on Saturday.
Buie, Kopp and Nance combined to score 54 points, over two-thirds of the Wildcats' points. Together, they hit nine of 18 three-point attempts.
Buie started strong, hitting three shots from behind the arc in the first half. Kopp did most of his damage in the second half, scoring 14 of his 19 after the break. Nance was consistent throughout the game, scoring from inside and out while adding a team-high seven rebounds.
Lack of late game execution killed the Cats again: Chase Audige was 2 of 7 from the field for the first 37 minutes of the game. Then he took three shots in the remaining three minutes and, predictably, missed all three of them.
Meanwhile, Buie and Kopp were shooting the lights out, but for some reason neither of them took a shot in the final three minutes (except two Kopp free throws). That is inexcusable in a tight game.
Northwestern had the ball down six with a little over a minute to go, when Audige literally dribbled in a circle for 15 seconds forcing Nance to put up a shot as the shot clock expired. Then, down by three with seven seconds left, NU drew up a play that had Audige dribble the ball up and launch a three-pointer from the wing that missed.
The choice to have Audige shoot with the game on the line was a curious one, to say the least. Audige finished 2 for 10 shooting, including 0 for 4 from deep. Meanwhile, Buie was 4 for 6, Kopp was 3 for 6 and Nance was 2 for 6, including a clutch triple 30 seconds earlier to cut NU's deficit in half.
Northwestern couldn't get to the line: Northwestern is 10th in the Big Ten in free-throw attempts, and their inability to get to the line cost them dearly against the Nittany Lions.
The Wildcats average a little over 18 attempts per game, but they couldn't even reach that mark in Happy Valley on Saturday night. The Cats only attempted 12 free throws, making nine. Penn State, on the other hand, got to the line 26 times, more than double NU, and hit 20 of them.
Northwestern just isn't aggressive enough to get foul calls on offense. Guys like Buie and Kopp rarely attack downhill, and when they do, they usually pull up short to avoid contact. Even someone like Nance shies away from contact at times, opting for hook shots or turnaround jumpers instead of using his size and physicality down low.
Free throws are an easy way to score points and help get shooters in rhythm by seeing the ball go in. It also puts pressure on the other team's bench as starters get in foul trouble. For a team like Northwestern's that is prone to extended scoring droughts, they should be doing everything they can to get easy points.
Wildcats get dominated on the glass... again: Northwestern once again got manhandled in the rebounding category against Penn State. Coming into this game, Northwestern was tied for 11th in the conference in rebounds, with 35 per game. On Saturday night, the Wildcats managed to grab only 25 rebounds, 10 less than their season average, while the Nittany Lions had 38.
Nance did his part by grabbing seven rebounds. Young was solid as well, with five boards in his 20 minutes. But 6-foot-9 Robbie Beran only had three and on the season is averaging just 3.4 per game. Those are substandard numbers for a power forward as tall as he is.
The Wildcats may have to consider removing Beran and inserting Young into the starting lineup to give them more rebounding, as well as more consistent scoring. Head coach Chris Collins likes to run a five-out offense, but the lack of rebounding and point production from Beran might lead him to experiment with Young at center and Nance at the 4, in Beran's place, moving forward.
The Cats couldn't take care of the ball: Northwestern came into the game as one of the most sure-handed teams in the nation, averaging just 8.9 turnovers per game. But the Wildcats hit that number in the first half on their way to 14 in the game, their second-highest total all season (they had 16 in a win over Indiana).
Kopp had an uncharacteristic four turnovers to "lead" the Wildcats, while Buie, Audige and Young finished with two each.
Still, it didn't hurt Northwestern too badly because Penn State turned the ball over 16 times, including five from Jamari Wheeler, in what was a sloppy, though hotly contested, game throughout.
