Did NU's bubble burst? Loss to Ohio State may end Wildcats' NCAA hopes
Northwestern couldn't end 32 years of frustration at Ohio State, which should go a long way toward maintaining the infinite impasse between the Wildcats and the NCAA Tournament.
NU erased a 12-point second-half deficit and took a 2-point lead with 3:38 to play, but couldn't answer Ohio State's Evan Turner down the stretch.
Augmenting his case for Big Ten player of the year, Turner scored 10 of his team's final 15 points to lift the Buckeyes to a 52-47 victory in a Big Ten regular-season finale Sunday afternoon at Value City Arena.
"I certainly wish we had won today," said Northwestern coach Bill Carmody. "It was a big game for us. It would have been really important."
The Wildcats (17-12, 8-10) could have taken another huge step toward their first NCAA Tournament bid, but they couldn't repeat their clutch shot-making at Purdue.
Sophomore point guard Juice Thompson had NU on the right path with 3:38 to go. With the shot clock expiring, he wiggled in midair and banked home a 3-pointer while getting fouled.
Thompson sank the free throw to give the Wildcats a 45-43 edge, but the visitors scored on just one of their final five possessions.
Meanwhile, Ohio State spread the floor and allowed Turner (17 points, 5 assists) to work 1-on-1 for baskets.
He nailed a pair of driving, spinning scoop shots against Northwestern's matchup zone. Then, when the Wildcats cut off his drive with their 1-3-1 zone, Turner swished a 17-foot pullup jumper to give Ohio State a 50-47 edge with 25 seconds to go.
"Neither defense worked against the kid," Carmody said. "He just kind of took over, I thought."
Nonetheless, Northwestern still had two possessions to tie and Big Ten 3-point champ Craig Moore wearing a hot hand with 4 second-half 3s.
But Moore, who finished 6 of 15 from downtown, never got his hand on the ball in a position to shoot. Kevin Coble came up short on a leaning 3-pointer with 15 seconds to go - failing to get a foul call that he and the coaches wanted.
The Wildcats regained possession when Moore (18 points) tipped a pass off Turner's foot out of bounds, so Carmody used his last timeout with seven seconds left to set up something for Coble or Thompson.
Instead, Jeremy Nash's inbounds pass went to 6-foot-11 freshman Luka Mirkovic after he set a screen for Coble.
Mirkovic tried to draw a foul in the corner, but his jumper came up short. It went into the history books as a 3-point try even though his foot was inside the arc.
"It looked to me like Kevin was open to throw the ball in and we certainly had enough time," Carmody said. "Jeremy didn't think he could get it to him, so he threw it to Luka."
In failing to run their winning streak to four, Northwestern fell into the No. 9 seed for the Big Ten tournament.
The Wildcats face Minnesota (21-9) at 11 a.m. Thursday with league champ Michigan State awaiting the winner. NU split the season series with the Gophers.