Northwestern goes down meekly to No. 7 Baylor
Northwestern’s new pale purple basketball court looks like it was colored with crayons and magic markers.
Whether or not it’s an attractive design is open to debate, but the painted portion at least seems to be dry. So that couldn’t be the reason Northwestern’s players refused to set foot in the purple, which covers the area inside the 3-point arc and outside the lane.
Against a long and athletic Baylor zone, NU launched shots from long range as if it was a requirement. Of the Wildcats’ first 15 shots in the game, 11 came from 3-point land and only 2 went through the net.
By the end of the game, Baylor shot 60.4 percent from the field, limited Northwestern to 24.1 percent and rolled to an easy 69-41 victory at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“In the football office, coach Fitz (Pat Fitzgerald) says, ‘Just flush it,’” said NU coach Bill Carmody, who turned 60 on Sunday. “I don’t like that, too graphic for me. But I think that’s what we’ll do.”
No. 7 Baylor was the highest-ranked nonconference opponent to visit Evanston since No. 7 Duke in 1989. But Sunday’s game was pretty much a waste of time unless you happened to be part of Valparaiso’s first family of basketball.
Bears coach Scott Drew got to meet up with his father, former Valpo coach Homer Drew, his brother, current Valpo boss Bryce, and sister Dana.
Baylor freshman Quincy Miller, who lived in North Chicago through ninth grade before transferring to schools in North Carolina, also brought a cheering section.
Northwestern tied a school record with 20 3-pointers on Friday against Mississippi Valley State. The Cats had no such luck against the long arms of the Bears, hitting just 4 of 26 attempts (15.4 percent).
“We were expecting a fight out there, but we didn’t compete like we needed to,” said guard Drew Crawford, who led NU with 15 points, hitting 5 of 16 shots. “Especially against an elite team. That’s who we want to play.”
Baylor (7-0) set up defensively in a spread-out 2-3 zone. The Bears lined up 6-foot-11 Perry Jones III, 6-10 Anthony Jones or the 6-9 Miller on either side of the lane, but they usually stood closer to the 3-point line, while 6-7 Quincy Acy occupied the center of the lane.
The middle seemed to be open, but Acy (6 blocks, 16 rebounds) is deceptively strong around the rim. NU starting center Luka Mirkovic showed no interest in attempting a shot and gave way to 6-9 Davide Curletti early in both halves.
“Quincy Acy give us that toughness inside,” Drew said. “He’s very long, very good a blocking shots. The wings are very tough to pass around because they’re long. I think when they’re active and working like they were today, it’s tough to get shots up.”
After falling behind 10-2, Northwestern (7-1) made a brief attempt to stay competitive, pulling within 19-16 on John Shurna’s layup. But Baylor stretched the lead to 38-21 by halftime and it never got any closer in the second half.
The Wildcats have had good starts before, including 8-0 last season. The only way they’ll break the lifetime run of no NCAA Tournament appearances is to finish .500 or better in the Big Ten and at this point, there’s no way of knowing whether that’s possible.
“This is the best Northwestern team that I’ve seen, so hopefully they finish well,” Drew said. “I just think tonight, they missed some shots early that were good looks. I thought our defense got better as the game went on.”