Who needs threes? Northwestern’s defense smothers BU to stay perfect in the young season

In its first two games, Northwestern won games with its shooting. On Monday night, when the shots wouldn’t fall, it found another way to win. In 26 attempts, the Wildcats managed only six makes against Boston University, going 3-for-14 after halftime. But by the end of the night, it was barely on people’s minds. Northwestern won the game the hard way, forcing 19 turnovers and turning them into 21 points, to defeat the Terriers 72-55 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Northwestern now moves to 3-0 on the young season and has yet to trail for a second.“I thought our defense was the story tonight,” head coach Chris Collins said after the game. “It was good to have to win that way.”The circumstances made it even harder. For the second straight game, Northwestern was without Jack Karasinski as he goes through concussion protocol, alongside first-year Jayden Hodge and redshirt junior Luke McEldon. Karasinski was the team’s best three-point shooter in the season opener against Binghamton, leading the team with 24 points while shooting 7-for-11 from deep. Boston, meanwhile, came to Evanston 2-0, powered by a veteran roster. Collins said he’d warned his team before the game to not be surprised by the Terriers, saying they have “a great chance to win their league.” By his own account, he thought the looks were there, but simply wouldn’t fall. “I thought we were getting good ones; they just weren’t going down, and we had to really rely on our defense,” Collins said.The brunt of that defensive success came in the first half, when BU committed 14 of its 19 turnovers, which Northwestern turned into 16 of its 39 points. That tenacious defense was the biggest reason behind the Wildcats 15-pont lead after 20 minutes, despite shooting 25% from deep. Setting the tone early has been an emphasis for Collins this season, and that message landed when Jake West turned two steals into fast-break layups in the first three minutes. “Hand activity” was something Collins kept circling back to. Northwestern succeeded in that respect as well with 11 steals, including three apiece from L.A. Pratt and West, and two more from Aleksej Kostic in 14 minutes off the bench. Collins credited this to the ‘Cats trap defense along the baseline, something he says they “love to do.”Much of that pressure fell on senior Kyrone Alexander, who was named the Patriot League Player of the Week on Sunday after opening his season with a 19-point performance against Northeastern and 29 points against Brown to pair with 8 rebounds. Collins said they want to “speed him up and get him into some tough spots,” and they did, as Alexander finished with 11 points on 2-for-8 shooting and committed five turnovers. The defense was far from airtight for all 40 minutes, though. Up 18 with 11:15 remaining in the second half, Northwestern went on a three minute, 17 second scoring drought, while Boston went on a 9-0 run to cut the deficit in half with 8:29 left. “I could really sense that we were fatigued out on the floor,” Collins said. “All of a sudden, it’s a nine-point game, and now you see a real game.”A three-pointer from junior Azmar Abdullah cut the lead to 57-49 with 6:56 to go, before Northwestern took the game over with its defense. BU was silenced for nearly five minutes until Alexander made a pair of free throws with 2:10 left, and its next field goal didn’t come until 43 seconds remained on the clock. Meanwhile, West hit his only three of the night, junior Angelo Ciaravino scored six points in the final 2:25 and sophomore Phoenix Gill’s three-pointer with 53 seconds left pushed the Wildcats back up to 17. “That’s definitely something that our coaches emphasize,” Pratt said of the late stand. “It’s an identity that they are really trying to put forth for us, and it’s something that we try to take pride in.”This stand comes three weeks after a shocking exhibition loss to Illinois State. In that game, the Wildcats committed 20 turnovers to the Redbirds’ five. Collins said the game was his first look at his retooled team. He said that the lesson he learned was to prioritize putting the ball in the hands of his decision-makers. “The main thing we realize is we got to try to get the ball in [West and Pratt’s] hands as much as possible to be our decision makers,” Collins said.Pratt’s progression shows that improvement. In an exhibition against Illinois State, Pratt shot just 1-for-7 from the floor and committed five turnovers. On Monday, Pratt put up a season-high 20 points and committed just one turnover — his first of the regular season. West continues to show off his offensive prowess, finishing with a game-high 21 points, eight assists and one turnover while playing much of the night in foul trouble. “Our margin for error is very slim, so we can’t be a 15-to-20-turnover team,” Collins said.Even so, concern remains about how the team will fare for the rest of the season. In the second half, the Wildcats outscored the Terriers by just two points, 33-31, and depth remains unclear, with Boston’s bench outsourcing Northwestern’s 17-11.Collins said a lot of the late fatigue is due to injuries, namely Karasinski, which takes “another scoring weapon” off the floor. Collins said Karasinski is progressing well and has a chance to play Friday against DePaul. He also added that Hodge is “getting closer” and graduate student Colin Smith is still shaking off the rust after three months off with an ankle injury. Friday against DePaul serves as Northwestern’s first test against a solid team from the ever-elite Big East. With the Wildcats’ limited size, Collins pointed to the Blue Demons’ “multiple seven-footers,” including 7-foot-2 junior Fabián Flores, 7-foot junior Wilson Jacques and 7-foot senior Magoon Gwath. It’s a fair concern considering Northwestern’s use of 6-foot-9 Okku Federiko as its center, and Collins used the end of his press conference to call for students and fans to “pack out The Welsh.”“Are we a well-oiled machine? No,” Collins said. “But you got to win while you’re figuring things out.”Monday showed that the Wildcats know how to win without shooting. Friday tests whether that defense can hold up against a bigger, more physical team.