Northwestern News Network

By: Lyndsey Armacost // NNN Sports

There were high hopes for freshman Vic Law coming into his freshman campaign and, after his performance in Saturday’s win against Penn State, now we know why.

Vic Law came off the bench for the second straight game and posted his first double-double of the season. With 17 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 steals, he was the game’s difference maker. “I just think I’m starting to get used to college basketball now so everything is getting a little easier. My mindset has changed, I think, greatly since the beginning of the season to now. I’m starting to mature a little bit more. I’m taking things a lot more seriously,” said Law. Vic Law played 31 minutes in the contest, the most he has played since November 22nd when they played Elon.

The Nittany Lions got off to a hot start, making 4 of their first 5 three pointers, but other than that the Wildcat’s zone defense was able to shut them down in the first half. “I give our guys a lot of credit, I even give myself a lot of credit because even after they hit their first four threes, it was testing my patience with sticking with the zone. We stayed the course with it and our defense was fantastic,” said Coach Collins.

“If we’re going to rely on our 3-point shooting, it’s going to be a long day for us,” said Coach Chambers. The Nittany Lions had 27 3-point attempts and, of the 8 that they made, 5 came in the first 12 minutes of the game. The Cats’ zone defense forced Penn State to take those low percentage shots because the zone allowed Olah to stay in the paint.

Penn State’s D.J. Newbill has averaged 21.1 points per game this season but the Cats were able to hold him to just 3 off of 1 for 6 shooting, 1 for 5 from 3-point range. Coach Collins said, “Our guys did a really good job of keeping awareness where Newbill was at all times. Forget that he only hit one basket, we were able to not even let him get looks and that’s the best way. Thorpe and Garner hit a few early but we were fine with those guys trying to be the playmakers if we could keep Newbill at bay.”

This was the Wildcats’ third straight win and Collins attributed that to a new found focus and maturity in all of the players, especially Law. He also mentioned that, being one game under .500, he doesn’t think that the postseason is out of the question if they can finish the season strong.

The first half at Welsh-Ryan Arena was all about defense for Northwestern. The Wildcats currently lead the Nittany Lions 28 to 20 with 15 of Penn State’s points coming off of three pointers.  After jumping out to an early lead of 12-6, Penn State could not penetrate the Cats’ interior defense. They settled for contested three pointers and finished the half with only 2 baskets in the paint.

Vic Law had a huge impact on the first half both offensively and defensively. While he did add a steal and a deflection, more importantly he led the Cats’ in scoring with 9 points off of 4 for 5 shooting. This is Law’s second straight game coming off the bench and it seems to be working.

They key for the Wildcats in the second half will be to continue shutting down driving and passing lanes on the defensive end. If Penn State has to continue shooting low-percentage shots around the arc because they can’t penetrate, the Cats can keep, or even extend, their lead.  The Cats’ took good shots in the first half but Olah and Demps need to do a better job finishing under the basket if they are going to be able to hold off Penn State for twenty more minutes.

By Ethan Cohen

It was Gothic Night at Welsh-Ryan Arena against Michigan State on Tuesday, and for ‘Cats fans, this one was like something out of a Mary Shelley novel.

When these teams met in East Lansing earlier this year it took a late Northwestern miss and overtime for the Spartans to win. This game was the opposite as MSU dominated an undermanned Northwestern squad in all aspects.

Bryant McIntosh started the scoring off, getting to the line and making both of his shots to stake NU to a 2-0 lead less than 90 seconds into the game. However, that would be the last time the ‘Cats would lead. A three-pointer by MSU’s Denzel Valentine, the first of their 13 threes, put the Spartans up 3-2.

While it was already starting to feel like a blowout early in this one, Northwestern kept it close for the first ten minutes of the game. Thanks to good half-court defense and nine points from Tre Demps, who would end with a team-high 20, Northwestern was only down 16-13 with 10:47 to go. But that’s when it got bad. Quickly.After a string of close losses, in each of the last four games, Northwestern has been undone by huge runs by their opponents. There was a similar story in this game, only much worse. Behind missed shots by NU and 6 three-pointers from the Spartans MSU went on a 22-0 run starting with just over ten minutes in the half.

After the game Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo said of the first half “we might have played our best half of basketball, but… I think Northwestern might have played its worst half.”

While Demps was 4 of 7 from the field in the first half, the rest of the team was 0-15. Add to that Northwestern’s ten turnovers and only 13 rebounds and this one was over before the break.

Northwestern’s sloppy play continued into the second half, as the ‘Cats went the first three minutes without scoring. With 12 minutes left in the game MSU was up 35, its largest lead of the game.

With the Spartans slowing the tempo and the game out of hand the Wildcats started to find some rhythm. Alex Olah, Vic Law and Demps all contributed and Northwestern turned a 35-point deficit into a 24-point loss.

While Demps led all scorers with 20, the ‘Cats missed the production of Nathan Taphorn and JerShon Cobb, who were out with injuries. The duo combined for 21 points in the first matchup between these two teams and while Law contributed nine points, seven rebounds and three steals, it was not enough on this night when Northwestern Coach Chris Collins said, “I don’t think we played hard enough to be worthy of winning.”

Northwestern is back in action on Sunday at home against Iowa, when they’ll try to snap their ten-game losing streak. Collins said he hopes to spend the time off finding more fight in his team.