Welcome to the blogosphere! The year is 2013 and the Northwestern Wildcats, headed by coach Bill Carmody, are in Mackey Arena to take on the Boilermakers, with the dream of an undefeated season still alive.
Wait, no.
The Cats are 8-18, at the bottom of the Big Ten. Purdue is 22-6 and is the surprise team in the conference this year.
At least NU is coming off its first conference win. But if they’re going to have any chance today, the Cats have to make sure E’Twaun Moore doesn’t go off for 28 points against them again.
Starting Lineups:
NU – F: 44 Kevin Coble, F: 21 Ivan Peljusic, G: 20 Craig Moore, G: 32
Purdue – F: 4 Robbie Hummel, F: 21 Namanja Calasan, F: 33 E’Twaun Moore, G: 5 Keaton Grant, G: 3 Chris Kramer
Let’s see if the Cats can turn one win into a streak.
15:13 - Craig Moore and Ivan Peljusic are picking up where they left off in the Michigan win. Moore and Peljusic have both hit 3s and the Cats and Boilermakers are tied 8-8. It's been a fairly uneventful five minutes: couple of turnovers, couple of fouls, couple of swishes. Pretty clean game so far. At least from what I can see around the two ginormous Big Ten Network cameras in front of me.13:53 - It's officially official: Peljusic has ups. For the second game in a row, Peljusic threw down on someone, carving through the lane and one-hand jamming the ball down to give the Cats a 12-11 lead. Peljusic has seven points, and NU may have found itself that fourth offensive weapon.
11:33 - Jeremy Nash and Peljusic have hooked up twice for easy layups, one with only a second left on the shot clock. The latest one extended the Cats' lead to 14-11 before the TV timeout. NU is 6 of 8 (75 percent) from the field right now and are not making that many mistakes. The Cats have picked up four fouls, though, two for Thompson. Purdue could be in the one-and-one soon.
9:01 - Grant twisted his ankle and had to be taken out. 16-14 NU.
7:50 - At 9:30, Peljusic had matched Purdue point for point (11-11) and Carmody took him out for Nikola Baran, who promptly fouled Robbie Hummel in the midst of shooting a 3-pointer. I guess everyone has to rest sometime. The game's getting a little physical, with a premium on jersey pulling and Ren and Stimpy-esque slapping in the paint. Jason Okrzesik pretty much mugged Hummel going for a steal. He got called for the foul. 18-14 NU, and Purdue is one foul away from shooting one-and-ones for the rest of the half.
7:07 - Grant comes back in. Peljusic hits another layup. With the shot, the freshman ties his career high in points at 13, set in Tuesday's win over Michigan. 20-17 NU.
3:45 - The half is winding down and the game is tied 21-21. The last couple of trips have been turnovers and missed layups for both sides, culminating in Peljusic bowling over Kramer and picking up his 2nd foul and the team's 8th.
26.8 - The half just keeps getting uglier. Nobody's scoring. Even on free throws. Marcus Green hit a 3 to give Purdue the lead at 24-23. Purdue is 6 of 13 from 3-point range ... and 1 of 9 inside the arc.
0.0 - Baran got two chances in the final 27 seconds to salvage his first half. He had already missed a 3 and two free throws and picked up two fouls in five minutes. Then he airballed a 3. Coble saved the ball inbounds to Okrzesik who found Baran for another shot at the buzzer. This one was blocked by Kramer.
Long story short, Purdue goes into the locker room with a 24-23 lead. NU is obviously still in the game, but this is no testament to anyone on the Cats (with the possible exception of Peljusic). It looks like the Boilers are trying to give this one away. And NU is more than willing to take it. The Cats are notorious for their slow starts. Maybe the second half will pick up a little bit.
Second Half
15:39 - Purdue has found a little bit of breathing room. After Hummel missed a 3, Thompson backed into him and knocked him over: Thompson's third foul and the third time NU has fouled a Boilermaker in the middle of a 3-point attempt. Hummel made his trio of free throws to extend Purdue's lead to 34-29. But Williams is going to the line after driving hard and getting fouled by Moore, his third as well. Williams hits one to cut the lead to 34-30.
14:08 - NU has taken to not guarding Purdue when it shoots 3s. Not a good strategy. After Calasan hit a 3 from the left corner to put the Boilers up seven, Hummel hit another one from the same corner to extend the lead to 40-30. Timeout Cats. Purdue has hit nine 3s so far, and three shots from inside the arc.
12:40 - NU has just committed three fouls in three seconds. Didn't know that was possible. Scott Martin hits one free throw. 43-32 Boilers.
11:36 - After being invisible for the first 28 minutes of the game, Coble has hit two difficult jumpers. Purdue leads 43-34 and has the ball after Thompson fumbled it out of bounds. Carmody felt there should have been a foul (there was a lot of contact ...) and is whipping his Conan O'Brien-like coiffure at the refs to great effect.
7:36 - Whelp, looks like one isn't going to become two, barring a miracle. Purdue seems to be in firm control. I say this because Martin just pulled a rebound in the middle of three NU defenders and got fouled putting it back up. He's going to the line looking to extend that 50-35 lead his team has built. NU also hasn't made a field goal in almost five minutes. Tsk, tsk.
3:38 - And the beat goes on. Or should I say "beatdown?" Purdue is on an 18-1 run in the last 8:15 and has built up a 61-35 lead. Remember halftime? When it was a one-point game? Yikes. The Cats have not made a field goal during Purdue's run, a span of nine shots. Add in two missed free throws and you've got all the makings of a natural disaster.
3:18 - Coble breaks the drought with a layup at the 8:35 mark. 61-37 Boilers.
2:34 - The "B" team is in. Jean-Marc Melchior, Tonjua Jones, Marlon Day, Mike Capocci and Pat Houlihan. Same for Purdue. Two Coble free throws make it 61-39.
Final: Purdue 68, NU 43. Not much left to say.
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