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Irish eyes weren’t smiling for the Northwestern hoops team on St. Patrick’s Day 2010.   NU was dreaming to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. But the Wildcats dream season ended in the first round of the NIT at the hands of the Rhode Island Rams 76-64 Wednesday night in Kingston, R.I.    The Wildcats were leading 22-20 before the Rams went on a streak of 14 consecutive points in the first half to pull away and then never relinquishing the lead that they had built. Michael Thompson led the Wildcats with 24 points, and John Shurna added 15 for NU. The Wildcats were gunning for their third postseason victory in school history. 

 

Coach Bill Carmody is already looking to 2010-11 with the strong showing that Northwestern had this season. “We don’t want to be in the NIT next year, to tell you the truth” he said. “We won 17 games last year, 20 this year and we have most of our players back.” The Wildcats finished (20-14) on the season. 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, Valentine’s Day in Evanston… a raucous crowd of 6,062 at Welsh-Ryan Arena came to witness a highly motivated Northwestern squad (17-8, 6-7 in the Big Ten) going up against the Minnesota Golden Gophers (14-10, 5-7). The Wildcats overcame a 13-point deficit and made 16 consecutive free throws after halftime to defeat Tubby Smith’s Golden Gophers 77-74 in overtime. 

 

NU junior point guard Michael “Juice” Thompson said “Our energy level and defense kept us in it. The crowd let us know it was not over, and (NU coach Bill) Carmody motivated me. We came up with loose balls and defensive rebounds.” Wildcat forward John Shurna added “people learned that we don’t quit, in the first half, not many of my shots were going in, but my teammates had faith in me. We get great leadership from Juice and Jeremy (Nash).” 

 

Minnesota tied the game at 57 with a three-pointer from Blake Hoffarber with 20 seconds remaining in regulation. Shurna got things started for NU in overtime with an up-and-under move. The Golden Gophers went up 62-59 on another Hoffarber three-pointer with 3:43 left in OT, but the Cats reeled off nine unanswered points, tying the game on a trey from Thompson and taking the lead for good on layups by Nash and Drew Crawford. Two free throws by Luka Mirkovic made it 68-62 with 1:13 to go. Shurna led NU with 22 points. Crawford had 18 points and nine rebounds, Thompson added 14 points and seven assists and Mirkovic dropped in 11 points and pulled down 10 boards. 

 

 

 

Evan J. Thomas is a contributor for 312Sports.com for Notre Dame, Northwestern and Chicago Bulls. He is also a professional photographer, his work and blogs can be seen at www.myspace.com/evanjthomas also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.