Coach Bill Carmody’s biggest concern coming out of Saturday’s loss to Ohio State was Northwestern’s “lifelessness.”
The question about heart was answered in a brief stretch of the second half in Wednesday night’s 73-58 loss to No. 19 Wisconsin.
Still, for too much of this meeting with the Badgers before a crowd of 17,142, the Wildcats teetered on the edge of rigor mortis.
The Wildcats closed to within seven points at 58-51 with six minutes left on a free throw and 3-pointer by T.J. Parker and a pair of free throws by Tim Doyle. But leading scorer Vedran Vukusic had fouled out minutes earlier, leaving without reaching double figures for only the second time all season.
Wisconsin answered with a 7-0 burst and stretched its lead again to extinguish any comeback fantasy for a team that has lost six of its last seven games.
“I didn’t question our heart,” Carmody said to a question about a sometimes-shaky area this season. “Did it appear we were heartless? I didn’t think we were.”
The Wildcats shot 51 percent for the game but turned the ball over nine times in the first half, missed five out of its first six free throws and made only that one brief run at the Badgers. Wisconsin (15-4, 6-2 Big Ten) has won the last seven Northwestern games played in Madison. NU (9-11, 2-6) reaches the season’s midpoint only a game worse from last year (3-5) but with an arrow pointing ominously down.
