Moore, Wildcats get it right this time

When Northwestern visited Wisconsin on Jan. 7, the Wildcats were perfectly awful and deserved their 29-point whipping.

But when the Badgers repaid the visit on Saturday night before a standing-room-only crowd at Welsh-Ryan Arena, Northwestern started perfectly and finished perfectly.

The Wildcats hit 3-pointers on their first four possessions to erase any thoughts of another blowout, then scored on their final eight possessions to erase a small deficit and earn a dramatic 66-63 Big Ten triumph in Evanston.

Senior guard Craig Moore (26 points), who hit the winning free throws in Wednesday's 2-point win over Indiana, swished 6 of 6 free shots in the final 15.6 seconds to keep the Badgers at bay.

"I've been working with one of the assistant coaches because at the beginning of the year, I was missing a couple," Moore said. "I changed my whole routine and, you know, just taking deep breaths when I'm there and just relaxing so I'm not long.

"I had been hitting the back rim. I feel if I relax my muscles, it should be in."

Moore wasn't the only Wildcat to make a difference down the stretch.

Trailing 52-50 with 4:11 left, freshman center Luka Mirkovic started NU's end-game perfection with 2 free throws.

Considering NU had been 8 of 18 at the line to that point, it was a welcome feat by Mirkovic. Then Juice Thompson nailed 2 free throws as both teams' fans filled the gym's ancient rafters with noise.

Wisconsin's Marcus Landry kept hitting layups and putbacks, but the Wildcats kept answering with something fancier.

With 2:27 to go, Moore fed Kevin Coble for a backdoor layup. With 1:31 left, Moore found the right-handed Mirkovic for a lefty hook.

Mirkovic, who rehabbed three times per day this week to get his sprained right ankle healthy, pounded his chest emphatically when Wisconsin (12-9, 3-6) called timeout after his play.

Then, to top Mirkovic's shot, junior guard Jeremy Nash drove on the 6-foot-8 Landry and scooped in a delicate drive off the board with 28 seconds left.

"Marcus played pretty good defense," said Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan. "The offensive player just made the better play."

Throw in Moore's late free throws and Northwestern (12-7, 4-5) has won four out of five Big Ten games for the first time since 2004.

"We're probably 85 percent of where we could be," Moore said. "That other 15, we've got to work on in practice."