Northwestern's defense falters down the stretch in loss to Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. — Maybe everyone's asking the wrong question when it comes to Northwestern.

Instead of continually wondering “When will the Wildcats make their first NCAA Tournament?” the nation's query ought to be “When will the Wildcats play enough defense to legitimize the question listed above?”

With some more stops Sunday, Northwestern could have shocked No. 12 Wisconsin on Senior Night.

Instead, the Badgers resumed their hot shooting down the stretch to claim a 78-63 Big Ten victory at Kohl Center.

Wisconsin hit 57 percent of its shots, which means Northwestern's last 10 opponents have combined to shoot 53 percent from the field.

“I don't know what else to say,” said Northwestern coach Bill Carmody. “You can't just outscore guys.”

Nonetheless, the Wildcats shaved a 16-point, second-half deficit to 3. That's when the Badgers reeled off 20 points in the final seven minutes to pull away.

The Wildcats (16-12, 6-11) clinched a spot in the Big Ten tournament's opening game — the No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed clash that has been their destiny as often as not.

Wisconsin (22-6, 12-4) stayed in the Big Ten title chase and wrapped up its second perfect home record in Kohl Center's 13 full seasons.

“I thought going in that we could score on these guys,” Carmody said. “I didn't know if we could stop them. I think that proved to be certainly true in the first half.”

The Badgers hit 65 percent in the first half, including nine shots within 5 feet of the hoop, to claim a 43-30 halftime lead.

In the second half, NU played more straight man-to-man than any game in years.

“We haven't been able to stop anything,” Carmody said. “So let's try to see if there's more accountability playing man-to-man. Actually, we've got to work on it, but I liked it better.”

The man-to-man helped limit the Badgers to 15 points in the first 13 minutes of the second half — and gave NU's shooters a chance to bridge the gap.

While junior center Davide Curletti came off the bench for a career-high 18 points and Drew Crawford scored all 12 of his points after halftime, Juice Thompson and John Shurna combined to hit 9 of 13 3-pointers for the game.

Shurna's 3-pointer with 7:14 left pulled Northwestern within 58-55.

That's when Wisconsin's best players reasserted themselves. Jon Leuer (26 points) relived much of the first half by posting up Curletti and throwing in a jump hook.

“Right when I came off the bench, he was going to work on me pretty hard,” Curletti said. “He's tall. I'm not very tall. I just try to put my hand up and he was getting some easy buckets on us. He's a great player. We all know that.”

After Shurna and Crawford missed open 3-point looks, Jordan Taylor (16 points) swished a 3-pointer and Keaton Nankivil (15 points) turned a putback into a 3-point play.

Northwestern never got closer than 7 points again to run its record to 0-12 at Kohl Center.

Playing without freshman guard JerShon Cobb, who pulled something in his hip or groin Wednesday, the Wildcats got all of their scoring from Curletti, Crawford, Thompson (19 points) and Shurna (14 points).

That quartet shot 22 of 43 from the field while the other three Wildcats went 0-for-4.

“There's some positive signs there from a few of our guys who made shots,” Carmody said. “Certainly Curletti, it was good to see him score. It was good to see Crawford go to the basket.

“(Wisconsin) is a good team. I just wish we could have stopped them a little bit better than we did throughout the whole game.”