The Wildcats lastly confirmed some life down the stretch however couldn’t make up for UCLA’s sturdy first half taking pictures.
After an 0-7 begin in Big Ten play that featured a handful of second half collapses, Northwestern has proven a number of enchancment in the direction of the tip of the sport of their previous two contests. Despite their tenth convention lack of the season, the Wildcats regarded uncharacteristically good within the second half, placing up 33 factors to UCLA’s 30 and slicing a 15-point lead down to as little as six. While it couldn’t get the job carried out on Saturday, it’s a promising signal for the struggling Wildcats.
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What went incorrect and what can Northwestern take away from this recreation? Here are three speaking factors from the Wildcats’ loss.
Perimeter protection leaves one thing to be desired
In Northwestern’s seven Big Ten losses, its opponents have averaged a formidable 40% from three level vary. In their lone convention win towards USC, the ‘Cats held the Trojans to a 15% clip from beyond the arc in a narrow six-point victory.
The Bruins came out of the gate on Saturday firing away. Senior forward Tyler Bilodeau was on fire in the first half, scoring 16 of his 18 points on the night and shooting a perfect 6-6 from the field while going 4-4 from deep. Bilodeau didn’t miss a shot till there have been underneath seven minutes left within the recreation, when his closely contested three-pointer rimmed out.
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The Bruins as a complete shot 67% from lengthy vary within the first half and completed the sport on the 44% mark. Slow rotations and lapses in communication on Northwestern’s half allowed UCLA to get a plethora of open appears to be like. Of the Bruins’ 16 first half makes, 11 got here on leap photographs and 6 got here from three-pointers. The one space the place the Bruins struggled was the free throw line, taking pictures an abysmal 3-9 from the charity stripe within the first half, and ending at a barely higher 11-21. If Northwestern needs to keep away from giving up huge runs and momentum-swinging photographs, they’re going to have to shield the three-point line.
Northwestern’s taking pictures woes proceed amid lineup inconsistencies
As a lot as he tries, the nation’s main scorer can’t do every little thing for the Wildcats. Martinelli is an outlier within the ‘Cats offense, shooting 54% from the field and 48% from deep. It was a familiar story for Northwestern fans, as the star forward received little help from his supporting cast. The ‘Cats shot a collective 37% on the night, well below their average clip of 47%. Martinelli put up an unusual 0-4 from downtown, but still managed to end the game with 20 points for the 11th straight game, despite getting double teamed nearly every time he touched the ball.
In the middle of the second half, Angelo Ciaravino hit a layup to cut the deficit to 13. The ‘Cats wouldn’t sink one other discipline purpose for over 10 and a half minutes earlier than Max Green splashed a nook three with 2:54 remaining. Northwestern received to the road quite a few instances in that span, changing on 11 free throw makes an attempt, however went 0-6 from the sector.
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Arrinten Page, the Wildcats’ chief in discipline purpose share and quantity two scorer, took solely three photographs in his 13 minutes, and linked on only one. In his first 16 video games, the large man averaged 27 minutes, however has performed solely 38 minutes in his final three video games mixed. Similarly, Jayden Reid, who’s second solely to Martinelli in minutes for the ‘Cats this season, and third in scoring, was limited to six minutes tonight after setting a career high with 28 points in a loss versus Illinois on Jan. 14. Reid missed his only attempted field goal.
Tre Singleton filled in many of the Reid and Page-less minutes in Saturday’s contest earlier than fouling out with two minutes left. The freshman had 12 factors on 2-8 taking pictures in 32 minutes which was adequate to be Northwestern’s second highest scorer on the evening.
With Chris Collins wanting to discover some effectivity in his offense, Ok.J. Windham could possibly be the reply. Windham has not performed prior to now 4 video games, however is considered one of solely two Wildcats taking pictures above 34% from past the arc with no less than 30 makes an attempt (Martinelli being the opposite one).
The ‘Cats are shooting a poor 31% from three on the season, which puts them at 315th out of the 361 Division I teams. If they want to be in position to mount comeback wins, like the ones they nearly pulled off against Illinois and UCLA, they’re going to want sharpshooters down the stretch. Whether the reply is completely different personnel, or just placing extra photographs up in observe, the ‘Cats need to find a way to increase their percentages.
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A strong finish sparks hope for Northwestern
In Northwestern’s eight convention video games, it’s gained the second half solely thrice. Once within the win towards USC, as soon as towards Wisconsin when the Badgers took their foot off the fuel after being up 23 at half and Saturday towards UCLA. While that might not be all that surprising provided that they’re 1-8 in convention play, the ‘Cats have seemed to really lose steam towards the end.
Up by seven at half to Michigan State, the Wildcats allowed 48 points in the second half in what was eventually a 10-point loss. They also blew a lead against Rutgers after leading by six with 2:33 to play. In their loss against Illinois, the ‘Cats had the momentum, having cut a lead that was 15 points midway through the second half, to a four-point lead with under three minutes left. Illinois would go on to finish the game on a 12-5 run, dousing the ‘Cats momentum.
Apart from Northwestern’s blowout loss to Wisconsin, the Wildcats have allowed extra factors within the second half of each convention recreation in contrast to the primary, giving up a mean of 33.5 factors within the first half, and 43.2 within the second. Against UCLA, the ‘Cats allowed solely 30 factors within the second half versus the 41 they gave up within the first.
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The Northwestern protection was nails within the second half, forcing UCLA to shoot 37% from the sector and 22% from deep within the second half in contrast to their 62% and 67% marks within the first half. Additionally, after snapping their 10-minute scoring drought, Northwestern completed the sport taking pictures 5-6, whereas the Bruins struggled to shut the ‘Cats out, ending the sport by going 1-7 and with out a discipline purpose within the remaining 2:35.