Surprised no one had this up yet. It's tradition, guys. C'mon.
OK, so, down 2 starters from the get-go. Wasn't expecting much. Had some good shooting to get us going and actually led 25-22 at one point. And then Northwestern went on a 38-12 run and that was pretty much the turning point of the game. We had them on the ropes but for that 38-12 run. Take away that 38-12 run, and we'd have been right in that thing.
Credit to Northwestern. They have some players. They play hard. They did a good job of scouting some of our tendencies. And they are one of the best teams in the Big 10 right now and ranked #43 on Kenpom.
Which, by itself, is kind of surprising considering their coach only won 8 games and went 3-17 in conference play in his 7th season at the helm a few years ago. I mean, any sane program would have fired him right then and there. Don't know what Northwestern was thinking. Five straight losing seasons before this year. How did that guy even have a job? He should have been flipping burgers at Burger King, amiright? Right next to Tim Miles, whose San Jose St team is now just 14 spots behind us in the Kenpom rankings.
Anyway, did you know Jamarques Lawrence is shooting 41% from beyond the arc in league games? It's true.
And he had a solid line tonight, too: 4-9 FGs; 4-8 3ptFGs; 2 bds; 3 asst; 1 TO; 12 pts; 33 minutes. Acquitted himself quite well. Don't anoint him some kind of savior of the program, but give him credit. He's not terrible. He's not like this year's version of Elijah Wood. He's got some game. I kinda like this Lawrence kid.
And Keisei continued to show he's serviceable. Better than serviceable. Calling him serviceable at this point is like damning him with faint praise. He deserves some credit.
Biggest difference in the game (other than turnovers) was rebounding. We got murdered on the boards. And I kinda feel like that wouldn't have happened if we'd had our two hurt guys. Did you really think we'd win without them? Do you think we might have had a chance with them?
HuscurAdam reacted to Norm Peterson for a article, uneblinstu's postgame chatter: vol 15, ed 21: Northwestern