Second-half thread for NU vs. Wisconsin

[lou v]

Northwestern's offense looked pretty good in the first half, but man, their defense was sloppy for most of it, too. The Cats had more baskets than the Badgers, 15-14, but Wisconsin holds a 41-34 halftime lead because they're 7-8 on free throws while NU is 0-1.

Chase Audige, who leads all scorers with 10 points, nailed a couple 3s to whittle Wisconsin's 12-point lead down to four, but NU couldn't get any closer. NU had 18 points in the paint in the first half, including a lot of layups.

Freshman Johnathan Davis and Brad Davison lead NU with eight points each. Nance has seven and four.

 

[freewillie07]

Ugly, ugly second half. NU really had a chance to take the lead. Wisconsin isn’t going to miss open shots forever.

 

[SimpsonElmwood]

Still in this one. Beran got hammered there.

 

[freewillie07]

Still in this one. Beran got hammered there.

Yeah you can’t block the ball with one hand and shove a guy in the back with the other. Surprised that wasn’t called.

 

[SDakaGordie]

Buie has to be the most exasperating player ever to watch for NU.

 

[DaCat]

Buie is going to make me tear all my hair out.

 

[HawkCat]

Beran should be the last guy on the bench.

 

[SimpsonElmwood]

This squad needs to rebound better. They’re not getting outjumped. It’s just being outhustled.

 

[freewillie07]

This squad needs to rebound better. They’re not getting outjumped. It’s just being outhustled.

Yes, this.

 

[DaCat]

Simply ugly playing by us. Giving them second chances after they miss just killed us.

 

[Jonny2TheP]

This is a truly terrible performance. Berry and Beran are shooting with zero confidence. Buie and Audige are playing out of control. And where the hell are Koop and Nance? Pretty much nowhere to be found. Playing about as bad as we can. It’s incredible we are only down 14.

 

[SDakaGordie]

This game is on the players. I know Collins recruited them, but they are just playing poorly and without a lot of basketball sense. The only time we look good is when they run the offense as designed by Collins to get easy scores.

 

[JournCat]

Throwing away a rare winnable road game in the Big Ten ... not good

 

[freewillie07]

Nance needs to play with this sense of urgency all the time.

 

[SimpsonElmwood]

Throwing away a rare winnable road game in the Big Ten ... not good

This was totally winnable. That play right before the commercial - what kind of defense was that? They give you 5 fouls for a reason.

 

[WildScott54]

Throwing away a rare winnable road game in the Big Ten ... not good

I keep hearing that Collins recruits well but he certainly doesn’t recruit good shooters and who has really improved over the last 3 years?

 

[freewillie07]

You can tell the announcers legitimately pity Northwestern. No confidence shooting. Not sure how to fix.

 

[SimpsonElmwood]

On offense the passing is very sloppy. Watch Iowa’s passing versus ours. It’s like night and day.

 

[Hungry Jack]

PHUCK.

OK. I said it.

 

[The Purple Knight]

Boo is too loose with the ball and plays out of control most of the time. Cannot have him in the game at any important time of the game. The "floater" shot is terrible and he's far too streaky of a shooter. Ryan Greer much more reliable, better defensively and should be playing a lot more.

 

[Jonny2TheP]

Does anyone make more odd mental mistakes than Audige? He can do things no one else on our team can do. The way he can create his own shot and get hot has so much value, but his decision making is horrendous.

 

[HawkCat]

Beran should play less. Young and Greer should play more. (Can we get Nance and Young on the floor at the same time? Nance at the 5 doesn’t appear to work anymore.). Buie and Audige are talented but need to play under control more. This team has too much talent to play so poorly.

 

[wildcatpn]

Beran should play less. Young and Greer should play more. (Can we get Nance and Young on the floor at the same time? Nance at the 5 doesn’t appear to work anymore.). Buie and Audige are talented but need to play under control more. This team has too much talent to play so poorly.

No moxie. No toughness. No confidence. Not even competitive anymore. Really disappointing.

 

[jensberg]

Rely surprised how Beran has never developed

 

[SDakaGordie]

Ultimately, it’s all about the point guard position. Collins is not yet ready, for some reason, to sit Buie, and he’s killing us. If I were playing along side Buie, I’d be quite frustrated. We’re still not where we need to be since McIntosh. Maybe Buie responds later this year because he is so streaky, but he’s not the long-term solution. We need Barnhizer or Roper next year.

 

[PurpleFaze]

Buie is going to make me tear all my hair out.

I think our downturn after the first 3 conf games is directly related to Boo’s play. It’s one thing not to contribute much but to some extent he’s a negative drag right now. I really thought a couple times tonight instead of Collins getting all upset he should have pulled him out.

Look the schedule has been brutal. I;m not saying we would have won any of these last games (maybe Ohio State) but without Boo’s dumb play I think we’d at least be hanging around a lot more vs getting blown out.

 

[JournCat]

Kopp has also stopped getting open threes or really anything open. And as Hummel pointed out, opponents are guarding Nance with quickness and betting he can’t shoot over them. We really need Beran to find his way again.