Carmody, Wildcats' bench bring home big victory at Purdue
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Talk about inadvertent genius.
Knowing there'd be a media timeout with the next dead ball, Northwestern coach Bill Carmody made an uncustomarily large substitution with 8:05 left Wednesday night at No. 19 Purdue.
Out went top scorers Kevin Coble and Craig Moore along with fellow starter Kyle Rowley and Jeff Ryan, who had just teamed with point guard Juice Thompson to turn a 10-point deficit into a 2-point lead.
In went lightly used fifth-year senior Sterling Williams along with Jeremy Nash and freshmen Luka Mirkovic and John Shurna.
"I only thought about putting them in for a minute or so," Carmody said.
But NU's makeshift lineup turned its one-minute cameo into a nearly six-minute star turn as the Wildcats rallied for a 64-61 Big Ten victory on Senior Night at Mackey Arena.
"Best move he made," Moore said. "Those guys played with as much heart as anybody I've ever seen.
"At first I was itching to come back in. But I was like, 'If they're going to win it for us, let 'em win it.' I was having a lot of fun on the bench."
The original lineup and Carmody's substitution crew shared evenly in NU's 14-0 run that saw Purdue go scoreless for 7:28.
Not only did the Wildcats (17-11, 8-9) retaliate almost perfectly for the Boilers' come-from-behind 63-61 win at Evanston on Jan. 15, they tied the school record for regular-season wins.
And, by the way, they remained in the hunt for the school's first NCAA Tournament berth.
"Definitely." said Mirkovic, who grabbed 3 crucial offensive rebounds near the end of NU's 14-0 run. "Why not?"
Why not, indeed?
Big Ten champ Michigan State and co-No. 2 Purdue (22-8, 11-6) are a combined 26-5 at home this season. NU administered 2 of those defeats.
The Wildcats earned this one by getting just as physical as the Boilers. And, fittingly, NU's rally started with some second-chance points.
While the happy home crowd relaxed when Purdue went up 44-34 with 14:56 to go on Chris Kramer's fastbreak layup, the Wildcats crashed the glass to win the rebounding battle (30-29) for just the second time in Big Ten action.
Moore (12 points) buried two 3-pointers and Coble (16 points) hit a baseline fadeaway to start the rally.
When Ryan cashed a layup with 1 on the shot clock - a recurring theme down the stretch - NU had its first second-half lead with 8:10 to go.
Then came Carmody's mass substitution, which led to Williams' baseline drive for a layup as well as a 20-footer.
That gave Williams a season-high 4 points and likely a career high for hugs from his teammates.
"I'm really happy for Sterling Williams," Carmody said. "We had Senior Night the other night, and I didn't even get him in. I just feel really good for that guy. He came up with some big plays there."