EVANSTON-Despite stellar offensive performances from its two leading scorers, Northwestern couldn't eke out a victory at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Northwestern posted its best performance since a one-point loss to Iowa on Feb. 10, but just like in that contest, the Wildcats couldn’t supplement it with an equal defensive performance, resulting in the team’s eighth straight loss, 69-64, to No. 22 Wisconsin.
The Wildcats got 45 combined points from Vic Law and Dererk Pardon, turned the ball over just three times, and got seven blocks and six steals, but still couldn’t claim their first win since Jan. 22.
The first half opened with an extremely fast pace, especially for the standards of Wisconsin and Northwestern. Eighteen shots were attempted in the opening five minutes of the game, and only two of those attempts were the result of offensive rebounds.
The score remained tight throughout the first 20 minutes, which ended in a 32-31 halftime advantage. Neither team led by more than three the entire half or was able to establish a rhythm, as Wisconsin suffered turnovers (the Badgers had six in the first half), while Northwestern struggled with its shooting (the Wildcats shot 38.5 percent from the field and 25 percent from deep).
Northwestern did a great job on Wisconsin’s best scorer, Ethan Happ, in the first half, limiting the big man to five points using a combination of looks that included double teams and traps. Meanwhile, Wildcat big man Pardon finished the half with 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting.
Wisconsin came out firing in the second half, creating a four-point lead early, but Northwestern continued to battle, forcing two lead changes in five minutes. Wisconsin found its breakthrough with just under 10 minutes remaining, utilizing an 8-2 run to extend its lead to seven.
The Wildcats would just not crack, however. Northwestern responded with its own 11-2 run to take the lead, with Law scoring all 11 points. Northwestern couldn’t extend its lead, though, as Wisconsin earned two and-ones on three possessions to take a one-point lead into the final four minutes of the game.
Timely buckets from both teams kept coming in the final minutes, and with four seconds remaining, Northwestern, down by three points, had a chance to send the game to overtime. As has been the case all year for Northwestern in late-game situations, it couldn’t connect on a 3-point attempt, as Aaron Falzon's contested, off-balance shot caught the rim.
Law led the Wildcats with 24 points, six assists and four rebounds, while Pardon added 21 points. Brad Davison led Wisconsin with 16 points, and both Happ and D'Mitrik Price finished with 14.
Here are our three pointers from a tough loss that dropped Northwestern to 12-15 overall and 3-13 in the conference.
The ‘Cats couldn’t defend inside-and-out: In double teaming Happ, Northwestern conceded a number of open looks from 3-point range all night, and Wisconsin made the Cats pay.
The Badgers knocked down seven of their 19 3-point attempts, with Price hitting 4-of-9 to lead the way. As Northwestern attempted to cut down on the open looks, Wisconsin’s big men had more space to work to in the second half. Iverson and Happ were 6-for-8 in the second half and were key factors in closing the game for Wisconsin.
“You have to pick your poison a little bit,” head coach Chris Collins said. “You have to make the decision about the double teams and giving up 3s, and then we shut down the 3-point line but [Happ] scored three of four times around the bucket.”
Overall, it wasn’t a great defensive performance for Northwestern, but it wasn’t as good as it needed to be.
Pardon vs. Happ was a true Big Ten battle: In a similar vein, watching Pardon compete with Happ was a lot of fun.
Pardon put up a phenomenal performance, scoring 21 points on 75-percent shooting, and he added two blocks and a steal. Happ notched a 14-point double-double and matched Pardon with two blocks and a steal.
“In the second half there was more space around him,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard noted. “We tweaked some things, but he made some decisions better and it helped us.”
Collins added that the only time he’d want to face Happ again would be “in the Big Ten tournament.” Wouldn’t we all?
Law and Pardon did all they could, but they couldn’t carry the offense to victory: There was a span in the second half where Law scored 11 consecutive points, with nine of them coming on three 3-pointers. He scored 17 points in the half, more than half of the team's 32, and was the main reason the Cats were able to stay in the game.
The consistent Pardon contributed 21 points -- 11 in the first half and 10 in the second -- so the team's top two scorers combined for 70 percent of the team’s total. But it still wasn't enough as Northwestern couldn't find that third scoring option.
“We have the utmost confidence in all of our guys,” Pardon said. “Tonight it was me and Vic, another night it could be Miller (Kopp), or Aaron, or A.J.. (Turner).”
Northwestern needed one of those guys to step up against the Badgers, but none of them did. Outside of Law and Pardon, the rest of the team was 7-for-31 from the field and couldn’t help the offense find that extra shot that was needed to earn a win.
