The errant pass skipped toward the Northwestern bench, where coach Bill Carmody snagged it. With a disgusted look on his face, Carmody took out his frustrations on the basketball, giving it four hard dribbles.
A few minutes later, point guard Michael “Juice” Thompson barked at freshman Drew Crawford, displeased with Crawford’s movement during an offensive set. And Crawford didn’t back down.
This was a fiery NU team determined to beat Iowa State, a rugged Big 12 opponent that some analysts project as NCAA-tournament-worthy — with a future first-round pick in Craig Brackins.
And the Wildcats channeled all that energy into an outstanding performance — a 67-65 victory that allowed them to win the Chicago Invitational Challenge.
Coupled with their 14-point win over Notre Dame on Friday, it gave the Wildcats their best two-day stretch since … forever?
“It’s a step forward for the program,” Thompson said. “A lot of people didn’t expect us to win this tournament.”
That’s an understatement. Northwestern’s fans were even outnumbered by Iowa State faithful Saturday at the UIC Pavilion. But that did not deter a team that figured to slump after losing Kevin Coble and Jeff Ryan to season-ending surgeries.
“With these 15 kids, there had to be some uncertainty,” Carmody said. “I didn’t even address it with them. There were no pep talks. The assistant coaches worked hard to prepare us.”
Just as Carmody credited his staff, top scorer John Shurna gave the nod to his teammates after his 23-point, seven-rebound effort Saturday landed him the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player trophy.
“It’s all about the team,” he said.
“Tell him, Johnny,” assistant coach Tavaras Hardy said as he walked by.
Shurna scored 16 of NU’s first 24 points, the first nine coming on a pair of 3-pointers and a three-point play.
That impressed Carmody, but he wanted a slower tempo to the game. Iowa State scored 39 points in the first half against NU’s 1-3-1 zone but was limited to 26 after the break, in part because the Wildcats switched to a matchup zone.
The Wildcats got key second-half 3-pointers from Thompson, Jeremy Nash, Alex Marcotullio and unheralded big man Davide Curletti, who drained one from the top of the key to give his team a 61-55 lead with 3:56 to play.
Nash hit four clutch free throws down the stretch, and Brackins came up short on his last-second heave.
“A hard-fought game,” Carmody said after his Wildcats improved to 5-1.
Thompson made 6 of 10 from the field for 16 points, three assists and only one turnover in 40 minutes.
———–
tgreenstein@tribune.com
