Wildcats run out of gas in Hall of Fame Tip Off final

Northwestern picked up their first loss of the season, 66-57, to Mississippi State, in the final of the NCAA Basketball: Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Championship game in Uncasville, Conn.

The Wildcats leapt out to an 11-0 lead in the first half, but the Bulldogs whittled that down to two by the break and cracked the game open in the second. The game's leading scorer, State's Josh Hubbard, finished with 29 points on extremely efficient 9-for-14 shooting from the field, and 4-for-8 from three.

Northwestern struggled to break the lid on the basket, amassing just 57 points on 38% shooting from the field and 23% beyond the arc. They were led by Ty Berry with 14, while Ryan Langborg and Brooks Barnhizer chipped in 13 apiece.

It was the second day of a back-to-back for the Wildcats, who beat Rhode Island, 72-61, on Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Arena, and it showed. The Wildcats ride their best players hard, normally playing Barnhizer, Langborg and Boo Buie for almost the entirety of most games.

"I thought they did a good job in the second half of getting into our legs and wearing us down a little bit," Collins said of Mississippi State. "We weren't able to get the stops in the second half that we needed.

"But a lot of positives...disappointing because we came here to win the tournament and, obviously, that didn't happen."

Collins struck a positive tone in the press conference. At 4-1, he finds himself at a very similar spot to lost season, when the Wildcats were 5-1 after losing the Cancun Challenge title game to Auburn.

"I think we learned a lot about ourselves these last couple games," Collins said, taking stock after the tournament. "There's no hiding that we weren't very happy with the way we played against Western Michigan.

"To be able to bounce back from that performance, come here and play pretty darn well. We're not where we need to be in terms of a finished product, but I think you're starting to see some things and guys are learning how to play with each other."

There's no doubt the Wildcats looked gassed in the second half, but they won't see a similar back-to-back format until the Big Ten Tournament three months from now. By then they'll have 20 more games of conditioning to keep up their pace.

Here are a takeaways:

Foul trouble cropped up again: The Wildcats' physical defense and decision making have led to a rash of early fouls to start the season. Both Matt Nicholson and Blake Preston picked up two quick fouls, forcing Collins to turn to sophomore Luke Hunger to close out the first half.

Hunger held down the fort for the last eight minutes to the break, and even flashed some scoring with four points. But, at the end of the day, the Cats have to clean it up defensively if they want to sustain success.

Collins broke down how he attributes the early struggles.

"I thought a couple of them were silly," he said. "I thought a couple were questionable. i trust the officials, it's a great crew...

"I think part of it is positioning, part of it is sometimes a few [bad] calls and I think part of it is not being smart."

The Wildcats have eight days to iron things out before Northern Illinois comes to Welsh-Ryan, and 11 days before their conference opener against Purdue and reigning National Player of the Year, Zach Edey, who come to town on Dec. 1.

Hubbard outplayed Buie: It didn't seem like Northwestern was the one with a first-team all-conference guard on Sunday. Buie struggled as Mississippi State keyed in on him, finishing with just nine points on 4-for-14 shooting. Hubbard, on the other hand, exploded for the aforementioned 29.

Again, fatigue no doubt played a factor. Buie has a high workload and the Bulldog defense was, well, dogged. The fifth-year senior is not immune to off nights, but there's while three other guards cracked double-digits, Northwestern was sorely missing their star guard's scoring today.

"No. 1 on the [opponent's] scouting report is trying to stop him, he still got 14 shots," Collins said. "I thought a lot of them were good, he got to his floater.

"As a point guard, you have to take what the defense gives you. If they're going to sell the farm, that's why you have other guys on your team. Ty gives us double figures, Brooks gives us double figures, Ryan gives us double figures. I feel like we're equipped if teams are going to sell out and take away Boo, like they did tonight."

Berry played his best basketball this season: It's very on brand for Berry to have his best games away from Welsh-Ryan Arena -- and when fans had conflicts from Northwestern football on Saturday and even the women's field hockey national championship game on Sunday.

He led the team with 14 points, and also poured in 13 as the team's third-leading scorer against Rhode Island.

"He's a huge X-factor for our team," Collins said. "He's a captain, a starter, a very good player in our program.

"We're relying on those guys every night, those four guards: Boo, Ty, Ryan and Brooks. They're the focal point of what we do, they all have 12-14 shots."

When the Wildcats can get all four clicking, they're a dangerous team.