Northwestern rights ship with win over Norfolk State
EVANSTON-Northwestern bounced back after a disappointing loss to Radford by beating Norfolk State 70-59 on Friday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“We can be pretty good and we can look pretty bad,” said head coach Chris Collins after the game.
Tonight, we saw a little bit of both.
Redshirt Freshman Ryan Young led the Cats with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Pete Nance (17) and Miller Kopp (11) also finished in double figures.
For Norfolk State, Jermaine Bishop scored a game-high 24 points and added 4 assists.
The Spartans scored on their first three possessions to jump out to a quick 7-1 lead. That put some pressure on the Wildcats early and resulted in their shooting 18% from the field. The Spartans saw their lead balloon 18-8 until Collins decided to switch from a zone to a man-to-man defense halfway into the first half.
That move sparked the Cats, who went on a 29-7 run from that point to end the first half leading 37-25. The run was fueled by mostly free throws – they hit 16 of 18 – and Nance, who had 13 points and 2 rebounds.
The second half saw Northwestern take control of the game and pile onto their lead. They maintained a double-digit lead throughout the rest of the game, with their largest of 19 coming with 4:03 left in the contest. Norfolk State tried to get back in the game by implementing a full-court press at various points of the second half, to no avail.
Here are our takeaways from the win that evened Northwestern’s record to 2-2:
Free throws can be a source of offense: “Getting to the free throw line was huge,” said Collins. “When you struggle, free throws help you with your confidence.”
Northwestern shot just 34% from the field against Norfolk State, their worst percentage of any game thus far this season. But 27 free throws, eight more than they’ve made in a game all season, seemed to be their most reliable source of offense.
Going into Big Ten play, Northwestern should look to stay aggressive and get in the bonus early to get easy points from the line.
Switching to a man-to-man changed the game early: Northwestern has been playing zone since their upset victory of Providence. But with the team down 18-8 early, Collins switched to a man-to-man defense that stifled the Spartans.
“I thought switching to a man-to-man gave us our energy back,'' said Collins.
The man-to-man shored up some flaws of the zone. Norfolk State hit 4 of 5 3s before the switch but went just 2 for 16 after. It was also the first time this season that the Wildcats vastly outrebounded their opponent, holding a 44-32 edge on the glass.
The Young guys provided a spark: Young, a redshirt freshman, notched the first triple-double of his career to lead the Wildcats, collecting 19 points and 12 rebounds while sinking 11 of 12 free throws.
The three freshman off the bench – Boo Buie, Robbie Beran and Jared Jones – provided all of the bench points for the game with 16.
“The energy off the bench helped us get jump started,” said Collins of his young players.
Buie helped steady the ship in his 21 minutes of play, and 7 of his 9 points came in the second half. Buie hit just 1 of 6 shots from the floor but was 7 of 7 from the free-throw line. He also collected four assists but offset them with and team-high three turnovers.
Beran hit his only 3-point attempt and finished with 5 points.
Collins is hungry for a tournament victory: After four straight home games to open the season, the Wildcats head to Florida for the Fort Myers Tip-Off, beginning with a clash against Bradley on Nov. 25.
“The guys are excited,” said Collins. “They have a chance to do something no teams I’ve coached here have done: win a tournament.”
And the Cats do have a shot at winning. The highest-rated team in the tournament based on RPI is Kansas State, at 85. Northwestern, though, currently ranks 288th.