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The Jan. 23, 2015 issue of The Daily Northwestern
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SPORTSFriday, January 23, 2015 @DailyNU_Sports
ON DECK ON THE RECORDWomen’s TennisArizona State at NU, 11 a.m. Saturday
We knew how important this game was, and we also knew how important it was to fi ght no matter what. — Christen Inman, sophomore guard
JAN. 24
Buckeyes bury Cats’ hopes
Women’s Basketball
By CLAIRE HANSENthe daily northwestern@clairechansen
Northwestern (14-4, 4-3 Big Ten) can breathe easy aft er squeaking past a tough Illinois (11-8, 2-5) team in Champaign on Th ursday night.
Th e Wildcats came back from a 10-point defi cit in the second half to pull out a 68-67 win over the Fighting Illini, breaking the Cats’ two-game los-ing streak.
“We knew how important this game was, and we also knew how important it was to fi ght no matter what,” said sophomore guard Christen Inman. “Our ultimate goal was to play forty minutes tonight.”
Th e Fighting Illini and the Cats jostled for the lead in the opening minutes of the fi rst period. Aft er Illi-nois secured a couple of three-point
leads, NU responded. Th e Cats went on two explosive runs, the second of which — a 52-second, 7-0 streak — put them up 30-17 with 5:36 remaining in the fi rst half.
Th at momentum didn’t last long, however. As NU’s off ense went dead, the Fighting Illini came roaring back, going on a 13-0 run to knot the game at 30-30.
Inman fi nally hit a jumper at 1:51 to quiet the home crowd, and NU took a 36-33 lead into halft ime.
But the advantage was a tenuous one, with the Cats shooting just 38.2 percent in the fi rst half, along with a subpar 30.8 percent rate from beyond
the arc.And it really hurt when Illinois
came out hot from the half, netting 11 of the fi rst 16 points in the second period. Inman hit a 3 to tie the game at 44, but a series of turnovers and missed shots by the Cats gave Illinois the win-dow it needed to pull away, leading to a 54-44 score with 11:02 left .
Refusing to bow to the Fighting Illini’s smothering defense, NU began to claw back, methodically shaving down the defi cit. Junior guard Mag-gie Lyon nailed a 3-pointer at 2:31 to tie the game at 64 — the 10th tie of the night.
In the fi nal minute, it was all Inman. Th e guard hit a jumper and two free throws to give the Cats a four-point lead. Despite an Illinois buzzer-beating three-pointer, NU would win 68-67.
“I was just really proud of our team, we were down by 10 and came back and really kept our poise when
Illinois came at us,” coach Joe McK-eown said.
When the Cats were trailing by ten, McKeown said that he told his team to make it a possession game and try to get three stops in a row.
Yet, despite the team’s clear resil-ience, McKeown acknowledged that other areas of NU’s play Th ursday could have been stronger.
“I was disappointed that we didn’t take better care of the ball,” he said. “It’s something we need to work on.”
Illinois, who ranked fi rst in turn-over margin in the Big Ten before Th ursday’s game, forced the Cats to lose possession 21 times. However, NU caused some serious damage of their own, forcing 24 Fighting Illini turnovers.
Statistically, Illinois’ offensive Th ursday was superior, edging the Cats in both fi eld goal percentage and shots from beyond the arc.
“Th ey made a lot of threes tonight, you’ve got to give them credit,” McK-eown said. “Th ey made threes from a lot of diff erent players.”
NU’s off ensive was productive as well, and, above all, balanced. Inman, Lyon, senior Alex Cohen, and sopho-more Nia Coff ey all netted double-digit fi gures, tallying 18, 14, 14 and 13 points respectively. Lyon led the pack with seven rebounds, followed by Cohen with six.
Inman says that fi ghting back and winning this game demonstrated the program’s progress.
“It shows our growth, especially for the sophomores who started as freshmen, we have a year under our belt,” she said. “Everyone’s a year older. We’ve learned from our past mistakes and past games and learned to fi ght even when things get tough.”
Cats claw back, overtake Illinois in final minute
Ohio State
69Northwestern
67By JESSE KRAMER daily senior staffer@Jesse_Kramer
A dominant performance by freshman guard D’Angelo Russell allowed Ohio State (15-5, 4-3 Big Ten) to escape with a 69-67 win at Northwestern (10-9, 1-5) on Th ursday.
Th e defeat continues the Wild-cats’ string of close losses. In the last four legs of its fi ve-game los-ing streak, NU’s average margin of defeat is a measly 4 points.
“It’s just so tough that they’re not getting the results they deserve,” coach Chris Collins said. “It’s tough going into that locker room know-ing you fought so hard and just came up a little short.”
Th e Cats cut an 11-point second-half defi cit down to 1. However, sev-eral botched opportunities in the fi nal minute, including two missed layups and a turnover, allowed the Buckeyes to survive.
“I love my group,” Collins said. “There’s no quit. We had every reason in this game when we got down 11 and they were hitting everything to throw in the towel and say, ‘It’s not our night.’ But we didn’t do that.”
At the start of the game, NU appeared on track to end its slide. Th e Cats jumped out to a 21-10 lead nine minutes into the game as the Buckeyes sleepwalked.
Junior center Alex Olah played an inspired fi rst half, continuing his recent resurgence in the post. Th e 7-footer had 10 points, two blocks and two steals in the opening period
and fi nished with a team-high 16 points.
Russell was the only Ohio State player who came ready to compete from the opening tip. His 12 points and 3 assists in the fi rst half not only brought the Buckeyes back into the game but also helped them gain a 38-34 lead at the break.
Russell did not let up in the sec-ond half. Aft er three free throws by sophomore forward Sanjay Lumpkin cut Ohio State’s lead to 54-46, Russell delivered a perfect bounce pass from 25 feet out for an easy Sam Th ompson dunk to push the Buckeyes’ lead back to double fi gures.
Th e Cats managed a late rally down the stretch though.
Trailing 63-60 with 2:44 to go, junior guard Tre Demps had a transition layup blocked by for-ward Anthony Lee. Collins said he disagreed with the non-goaltending call.
“It should have been 63-62,” Col-lins said. “Somebody’s got to be held accountable for (the missed call).”
Collins was livid on the sideline, hopping up and down while fl ailing
Ebony Calloway/The Daily Northwestern
RUSSELL’S REIGN Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell leads the team’s half-court offense. The freshman guard torched Northwestern on Thursday night, dropping 33 points and six dimes in securing the Buckeyes a narrow victory.
By BOBBY PILLOTEdaily senior staffer@BobbyPillote
D’Angelo Russell made Northwestern look silly.
Ohio State’s star freshman guard shredded the Wildcats’ defense to the tune of 33 points and six assists, rou-tinely draining threes with a defender in his face and zipping bounce passes through windows nobody else could see. On one particular play, junior guard Tre Demps simply shrugged as he watched yet another Russell jumper sail into the net.
“I tried to fi ght over the screen,” Demps said, “I got over it, they isolated me, I thought I got a hand up … and he still made it.”
NU needed to contain the Buckeyes’ top threat in order to win, and they failed to do so Th ursday night. But plenty of other things fi nally went right for the Cats. Beyond Russell, NU’s defense actu-ally looked the best it has this season.
Ohio State’s next-highest scorer was forward Sam Th ompson with an unspec-tacular 11 points. Russell was also the only Buckeye to score in the fi nal eight minutes of the game. NU found success with greatly improved defensive switch-ing — something the team has struggled with all season — and fi nally started run-ning over screens instead of under them to prevent easy threes.
“Overall I thought our guys executed really well,” coach Chris Collins said. “We’re getting better every game.”
Beyond the defense, that improve-ment showed up in the little things. Th e Cats snatched six steals, fi ve more than they had in their last game against Michi-gan, and turned them into 12 points. NU also won the rebound battle, 32-29, and had a whopping 12 off ensive boards that led to 16 second chance points.
Th e team was an impressive 12-of-14 from the free-throw line and actually attempted more shots than Ohio State, a sign of better ball security and off ensive production.
Collins continues to be disinterested in the idea of a moral victory, but the Cats have defi nitely improved since the start of Big Ten play and are clearly mov-ing in the right direction. Sometimes a special player like Russell just ruins the night.
Ebony Calloway/The Daily Northwestern
CONTROVERSIAL CALL Chris Collins shows his frustration. The coach was especially miffed about a late non-goaltending call, but his team once again showed progress in another close loss.» See MEN’S BBALL, page 9
Northwestern
68Illinois
67
“It’s tough
going into that locker room
knowing you fought so hard and just came
up a little short.Chris Collins,
head coach
Men’s Basketball
Despite loss, Cats make key strides
Russell leads Buckeyes past NU
