A few hours before busing to Wisconsin for the latest stop on the death march known as Northwestern’s January conference schedule, Bill Carmody contemplated the keys to ending the hurt.
“Rebound and make shots,” Carmody said. “That’s what it is in most games. Not just us but almost everybody.”
As he laid out these bare-bones precepts, the Wildcats coach had coffee in hand. By now he may need something stronger.
The Wildcats didn’t rebound Wednesday night, they didn’t make shots and they threw in some ineffective defense to boot. The result was a thorough calamity, a 74-45 loss to Wisconsin that continued a precipitous decline after a promising start.
The final tallies were 31.4 percent shooting, a 42-28 rebounding deficit and a season low for points scored for the Wildcats (8-5, 0-3). Wisconsin’s 50 percent shooting exacerbated the agony, as the Badgers became just the second team to hit that mark against the Wildcats.
The particulars were no less gory. A stretch of almost 11 minutes in the first half with just one field goal carved a sizable hole. Then a complete defensive collapse buried the Wildcats, as Wisconsin (12-3, 2-0) put together a 23-7 second-half run by hitting 9 of 11 shots.
The result was a 25-point lead midway through the second half and a picture of a yawning Northwestern fan featured on the Kohl Center big screens thereafter.
That Northwestern stood a chance Wednesday was a minor miracle. Or, less charitably, maybe a matter of membership in the Big Ten.
The Wildcats shot just 33 percent before halftime, going six minutes without a point and nearly 11 minutes with just one field goal to its credit. A nine-point intermission deficit had to be considered a plus.
The Badgers, methodical as always, mustered just a 12-point first-half lead. Then some shoddy ballhandling allowed the Wildcats to crawl within 10. A Craig Moore steal and layup 21 seconds before the break made it a nine-point game, and a Michael Thompson steal on the ensuing possession kept it there.
But by the time Northwestern missed six of its first seven shots in the second half, Wisconsin had a 16-point lead. And so the Wildcats had to wonder when they would find some air in this Big Ten abyss.
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bchamilton@tribune.com
