Northwestern gets 20th win in NIT victory
BOSTON — Northwestern is heading someplace no Wildcat team has ever been. Not the NCAA tournament — still — but the quarterfinals of the NIT.
After falling short again in its try for a first-ever NCAA berth, Northwestern reached the NIT's third round by beating Boston College 85-67 on Saturday. John Shurna scored 20 points with nine rebounds and Michael Thompson had 22 points for the Wildcats (20-13).
"I think Northwestern basketball is getting a lot more respect," Thompson said. "It's the postseason. It's not the NCAA tournament, but we've still got a chance to win a championship. We all just want to continue to play together. A lot of guys are graduating, but we want to stay together as long as we can."
Northwestern will play the winner of Monday night's game between Oklahoma State and Washington State. With a victory, the Wildcats would reach the NIT final four in Madison Square Garden and break the school record for victories they set last year.
"That's right. We got 20 (wins) today," coach Bill Carmody said. "In some places that wouldn't mean anything special, but the second time in like 100 years — it's special."
Northwestern has always been overshadowed in the Big Ten by more illustrious programs like repeat NCAA champions Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State. This year, Ohio State is the team to beat — in the conference and in the nation — and no one played them harder than the Wildcats, who lost to the top-ranked Buckeyes by one point in the regular season and in overtime in the Big Ten tournament.
That left Northwestern out of the NCAA tournament and in the NIT for the third straight year. It beat Wisconsin-Milwaukee 70-61 in the first round.
"We weren't even sure if we were going to get an NIT bid," Carmody said. "They were pretty down. It's a matter of how they're going to handle this. You're not sure when you go to the NIT how your team will play."
The Wildcats made 15 of 36 from 3-point range, with Thompson hitting 6 of 12, and had 27 assists on 34 baskets. Drew Crawford and Luka Mirkovic had 13 points apiece, and Alex Marcotullio scored 12 while the Northwestern bench totaled just three points.
Joe Trapani scored 18 and Josh Southern had 12 for BC (21-13), which ends its first season under coach Steve Donahue.
"This is a bad matchup for us, I knew it. I'm not going to let that could what I think was a very good season," he said. "We were a very good basketball team, to win 21 games. Guys had really good seasons. I think we're going to have a lot of things we can build on."
BC, which beat McNeese State 82-64 in the first round, led 14-12 early before Thompson hit a short jumper and then Crawford hit back-to-back 3-pointers from the top of the key. It was 23-all when the Wildcats scored 15 of the next 23 points — six of them by Shurna — to take a seven-point lead.
Northwestern led 56-46 with 13:19 left before scoring nine of the next 11 points to put the game away.
Donahue took his starters out with 1:21 left and BC trailing by 14, giving the crowd a chance to cheer for seniors Trapani, Southern, Biko Paris, Corey Raji and John Cahill.
"It was my last game playing college basketball, so I was kind of disappointed I had to go out like that," Trapani said. "But I appreciate the people who supported me. I've got nothing but love for BC basketball fans."