Wildcats' Big Ten woes get worse
Could there be a more perfect metaphor for Northwestern's arduous Big Ten season?
Not long after the Wildcats suffered a 65-47 Big Ten loss to Ohio State on Wednesday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena, Bill Carmody tried to get into NU's new locker room to address his players.
Alas, the Wildcats' coach couldn't punch in the correct five-digit code and needed aid from his director of basketball operations in order to gain access.
Meanwhile, in the Wildcats' old locker room where the visitors now reside, 40-year-old Ohio State coach Thad Matta celebrated his 200th career win and senior guard Jamar Butler celebrated becoming his school's all-time assist leader.
Four Buckeyes scored in double figures as the visitors used a 15-2 run midway through the second half -- a familiar refrain to Northwestern fans -- to turn a 3-point lead into a runaway before 3,822 in Evanston.
The Wildcats (7-15, 0-11) are off to their worst Big Ten start since Kevin O'Neill's final NU squad went 0-16 in 1999-2000. They've lost 17 consecutive games to conference foes dating to a 53-51 home win over Penn State on Feb. 10, 2007.
"It's sort of a pattern we've been seeing a little bit," Carmody said. "We play with them for a little while. If you're going to play with a team like that for 40 minutes, you have to make some shots."
That's where Carmody's best-intentioned button-pushing failed on this night.
The Wildcats scored just 4 points over a nine-minute, second-half stretch to seal their usual fate.
Their lull came despite the fact they were getting the shots they wanted against Ohio State's extended zone -- open jumpers around the free-throw line.
"We got Sterling (Williams) in there two or three times and Jeff Ryan … and we just missed every shot," Carmody said. "Pretty uncontested shots. If you don't make those shots, they won't guard you and then it doesn't open up the baseline."
Northwestern shot just 32 percent in the second half and 37 percent for the game.
Meanwhile, the Buckeyes (17-8, 8-4) shredded NU's 1-3-1 zone with either 3-pointers or diagonal high-low passes to big men underneath.
"There's only one guy down there covering all that baseline," Butler said. "You're going to have wide-open diagonal passes. That was our thought coming into the game to execute that and we did it well."
Kosta Koufos and Othello Hunter combined for 30 points and 16 rebounds, while Butler hit four 3-pointers and handed out 6 assists.
Meanwhile, fast-improving freshman Evan Turner, the St. Joseph product, filled up the stat sheet with 10 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals.
Kevin Coble, Northwestern's usual top scorer, finished with just 4 points on 7 shots as Ohio State slanted its zone his way. Craig Moore led the way with 15 points.