Northwestern University Athletics
Illinois In Review
1/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
They had trailed for over 31 minutes, their deficit once rising to as high as 11, but now the `Cats were in full cry, looking to grab off an improbable win. They were down just five, and they had the ball, and here the freshman point Bryant McIntosh drove hard to the hole and, from under the basket, whipped a pass out to Alex Olah. He was alone when he accepted it beyond the arc and now, with just over a minute remaining in their Wednesday night showdown with Illinois, he offered a three that would make this a one-possession game.
It looked true, looked certain to fall through, but after dancing with every part of the rim, the ball popped out and was collected by Illini guard Malcolm Hill. "He got a great look," Chris Collins would later say. "If it goes down, it's a two-point game with a minute to go and maybe things go a little different. But it rims out and that's how it goes sometimes."
"I don't know whether that was a ghost or, I don't know," said Olah himself. "I saw it in. But it wasn't meant to be."
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Again, just as it was last Sunday at Michigan State, it wasn't meant to be for the `Cats, who would finally fall to Illinois by five. Again they refused to buckle after falling behind early, just as they had against the Spartans, and again they emerged from a hole and positioned themselves for a late-and-dramatic win. "That," noted Collins, "is life in the Big Ten. You play tough, hard-fought games, they come down to a possession here, a possession there. That's what it was again.
"Again, you've got to move forward. It's a long conference season. We've played four games. We're one-and-three. We could easily say we should be three-and-one. But we're not. We're one-and-three. That's reality. And it's not about coming close. I've said that. It wasn't about coming close against Michigan State, and it's not about coming close against Illinois. It's about finding ways to win. That's the next step for us as a team."
Both teams, on Wednesday, opened afire, and through its first four minutes traded three pointers. The `Cats led here, 13-8, after dropping five-of-their-first-seven shots, but then they floundered, going two-of-11 over the next 11 minutes. Now, down 10, they were playing from far behind, and though they finished this half strong, they still trailed by four at the half.
Olah was on his way to a solid night and would end it with 14 points and a dozen rebounds, four assists and three blocks. McIntosh, in turn, would chip in 18, and on the night the `Cats would out-rebound the Illini by five; would out-score the Illini in the paint by eight; would make 92.3 percent of their foul shots (12-of-13); and would shoot 46.2 percent to the Illini's 41.9.
But their defense, their calling card just a season ago, was often inert and rarely challenged the Illini, who run countless screens in search of open shots. They not only got them, got enough of them to maintain their lead. They also got enough free passing lanes that they ended this game with just three turnovers and the `Cats, with not a single fast-break point. "Our hands weren't active at all," McInthosh would later allow. "They threw the ball in the air anywhere they wanted to on the floor. That's all there is to it."
"I didn't like our activity defensively," Collins said, expanding on that thought. "We were in the right spots. But we have to be a lot more active. We need to be getting some more deflections. Give Illinois credit. I'm not disparaging them. But for them to have only three turnovers, it just shows our aggressiveness on the defensive end just wasn't there. That's got to pick up. We're playing really good teams. These last three games, our offense has really picked up and our defense has taken a back seat."
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That explains well enough why the Illini led by 10 with just under seven minutes remaining, but now the `Cats were catalyzed by an unexpected source. Just 97 seconds earlier senior Dave Sobolewski had replaced McIntosh, who had committed turnovers on consecutive possessions, and here he dropped a three from the right side to pull his team back to within seven. Illini guard Kendrick Nunn responded with his own three, but here came Sobolewski again, dropping this three from the left side.
Seconds later McIntosh reentered the game, this time to play alongside the veteran, and soon enough he drove and dropped in a floater from the right baseline that pulled the `Cats to within five at 4:25. "I thought Dave playing with him kind of calmed Bryant down, and then Bryant really played well down the stretch," Collins later said. "Part of that was playing with Dave."
"Having him out there," agreed McIntosh, "allowed me to settle down, find myself, and I thought we played really well with him on the floor."
That the `Cats did, McInthosh's jumper and layup sandwiching an offensive rebound by Olah, and now he drove to the rim and kicked out to Olah and Olah offered up that three denied by a poltergeist. Still, 40 seconds later, JerShon Cobb dropped a pair of foul shots to pull the `Cats to within three with 29 seconds remaining, and now this one was roaring toward its conclusion.
At :26, Illini guard Aaron Crosby missed a front end. At :12.2, Tre Demps rolled in an underhanded layup to pull the `Cats to within one. At :07.5, Illini guard Nunn dropped a pair of free throws. At :04.3, McIntosh did the same to again make it a one-point game. But now, with the `Cats pressing, Nunn broke long, and got behind `Cat Scottie Lindsey, and accepted a pass from Malcom Hill, and dribbled the clock down to :01.2 before he was fouled and dropped another pair of free throws.
Now the rest was mere denouement, that unsuccessful half-court pass by Nathan Taphorn and those final two free throws by Hill, and so again it was not meant to be for the `Cats. "It's nice we've shown progress," Bryant McIntosh would soon be saying, clearly referencing their recent efforts.
But then, not even a heartbeat later, he echoed his coach and firmly concluded, "But losing is not acceptable. That's all there is to it."
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