Northwestern's improved defense doesn't get enough help in OT loss to Penn State
Northwestern and Penn State might have played the greatest ugliest game in college hoops history Friday. Or maybe this was just another night in the Big Ten, just with a longer grind and slightly higher stakes.
"I thought it was kind of a rock fight," NU coach Chris Collins.
Yeah, well, most rock fights have better accuracy than this game.
The Wildcats' quest for their second trip to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals fell short during a 67-65 overtime slugfest at the United Center.
The game ended with NU guard Boo Buie missing a free throw with NU trailing by two. The rebound was tapped outside to teammate Chase Audige, who jumped to secure the ball, then shot it as he landed - and it almost went in.
According to Collins, it was not an intentional miss. With 4.7 seconds on the clock when Bouie went to the line, Collins felt there was time to foul and get another shot off.
Ultimately, the difference in overtime was Penn State's Jaden Pickett hitting a line-drive 3-pointer on the first possession, then Seth Lundy draining a three with a hand in his face with 49 seconds remaining. In a game that looked like it would never get to 60, scoring 6 points on 2 shots was an offensive tidal wave.
"I think tonight was the definition of gritty not pretty," Nittany Lions coach Micah Shrewsberry said.
The shooting lines were borderline embarrassing. Audige went 3-for-14 from the floor, but hit a jumper with 1:19 left in OT to put the Wildcats up by 1. NU's Brooks Barnhizer was 4-for-13, but would have been the hero had the game ended in regulation. Ty Barry was 0-for-9 before hitting a three to put the Cats ahead with 2:32 left. On the other side, Penn State missed 11 free throws.
"I didn't think it was a beautiful game to watch, but I thought it was an incredibly hard-played game by both teams," Collins said.
The game did showcase what's been maybe the most important improvement in Northwestern this season. Remember, the Wildcats were picked to finish 13th in the preseason media poll and ended up second.
During the offseason, NU added assistant coach Chris Lowery, who spent eight years as head coach at SIU and the last 10 seasons with former Illinois boss Bruce Webber at Kansas State. Webber is walking around the UC as a Big Ten Network analyst this weekend, so Lowery was ready for a new challenge.
"I think defense is something we've always stressed, but he's brought an aggressiveness and a grit and a toughness to our defense that I thought we needed," Collins said. "I did a deep dive at the end of last year about what are some things we needed to do to get better. We needed to guard better and we needed to be physical. I think those are things he really brings to the table."
That was evident when Penn State went to its pet play, guard Jalen Pickett backing down another guard in the post. After the Nittany Lions won Thursday, Illinois coach Brad Underwood basically said the strategy was unguardable and named it "Booty Ball."
Buie was able to jump around Pickett to snag a couple of Northwestern's 8 steals and the play wasn't a big part of Penn State's game plan.
"We forced 15 turnovers tonight," Collins said. "We'd never really been a team that forced a lot of turnovers. A lot of it has to do with (Lowery) adding a little grit and aggressiveness to our defense."
So the Cats (21-11) will just wait for Selection Sunday, when they're expected to get the second NCAA bid in school history and first since 2017.
"We're disappointed," Collins said. "We were excited about this tournament, being in Chicago. We had a great turnout, the students were here. We wanted to do our part and advance and keep playing, but it didn't happen.
"Sunday's going to be special. I want these guys to enjoy what they accomplished."
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