Hardcore X&Os explain NU's "L" to PSU

I planned to use this blog to explain why Northwestern needed to advance at least into the Big Ten semifinals (a place it never has been) in order to merit serious at-large consideration from the NCAA Tournament committee.

Now that the Wildcats took an 81-70 beating at home from Penn State, I don’t need to waste any space on that. NU (17-9, 6-8) now must win four Big Ten tournament games in no more than a 77-hour stretch March 11-14 at Indianapolis in order to earn its first NCAA Tournament bid.

If I’m a member of the Wildcats’ starting five, which combined to play 186 of a possible 200 minutes Wednesday night, I start carbo-loading immediately (or maybe trying that EPO thing elite cyclists supposedly don’t do) in hopes it’ll be necessary three weeks from now.

Since we don’t need to devote more space to NCAA stuff, let’s talk a little strategy here because you can bet every one of NU’s opponents are going to try to steal a chunk of Penn State’s strategy. Specifically, how the heck did Penn State savage Northwestern’s 1-3-1 zone trap the way it did?

The Wildcats didn’t resort to the 1-3-1 until 17 minutes went by, but the Nittany Lions attacked it like they had the answer key.

Here’s what they did to close the first half:
First possession vs. the 1-3-1: Six-foot-7 junior forward David Jackson flashed open in the post, took a pass from Chris Babb, and made a layup that became an And-1. That put Penn State ahead 31-27.
Second possession: Babb missed a 3-pointer.
Third possession: Jackson got fouled underneath by Crawford and hit 2 free throws. 33-29.
Fourth possession: Penn State had the ball in transition after a John Shurna airball, but Andrew Jones couldn’t get Babb’s hard pass on the run that coulda, woulda, shoulda been a dunk.
Fifth possession: Talor Battle attacks the middle and kicks to Jeff Brooks for a 3-pointer as the shot clock sounds with 0:06 left in the half. PSU 36-32 halftime lead.

Things didn’t change much after the break. Again, Carmody tried to start with the matchup zone, but ditched it less than three minutes in. The first possession? Shurna stole a side-to-side lob pass and flew in for a dunk. The second possession? Jones got an easy dunk on a Babb feed…and it went from there.

How’d this happen, Coach Carmody?

“I think the 1-3-1, we didn’t put enough pressure on the ball probably and they were just a little too comfortable against it.
“I think it’s probably a holdover from the Minnesota game. We were maybe a little more flat (not as extended). In the beginning, we were going to play it flat. But then we saw Battle passing the ball pretty nicely over the top and they were finding guys in the lane. I thought our center (Luka Mirkovic) was out too far. We tried to get him back down, but they just got too many easy looks against it.

“You know, usually guys make 3s against it. But they were getting the ball inside and throwing it over the top against us, which teams can do. But if you pressure the ball and usually (the ballhandler’s) back is to the court a little bit, then it’s a lot harder to see guys that are open for a second.

“I think it was probably my fault. At halftime, we tried to change (our 1-3-1) and it didn’t seem like it was effective against them.”

OK, Penn State coach Ed DeChellis, how did you exploit the 1-3-1 for so many easy layups and dunks?

(For those who haven’t seen NU’s 1-3-1 trap, 5-foot-9 guard Juice Thompson plays at the bottom of the zone closest to the hoop. It helps NU to have a quick guy to race out to the corners to stop 3-point shooters, but it’s ruined when teams can get the ball into the post because Juice can’t stop them).

“We worked really hard for two days on it. We really felt we could sneak in from behind it. And Bill (Carmody) will see it (on tape), it’s not any secret now.

“We could go high-low (with the post passing), but we had to get the ball closer. I think from the half-court line, we really concentrated on our guards shot-faking and driving the gaps _ and then getting it into the high post and then going low.

“Sometimes I think the 1-3-1 has a tendency to push you out toward half-court. And we kept saying for two days, ‘We want to go north and south. We want to go toward the basket. Guards, shot-fake and drive it into those gaps. And then you can get it into the high post and then get it into the low post.

“We were just trying to be aggressive. I think when you throw it back and forth (over Jeremy Nash’s head at the top of the 1-3-1), going east-and-west, east-and-west, that doesn’t do you as much good as when you can go north/south.”

OTHER STUFF
--When Juice Thompson hit a floater with 9:06 to go, the junior point guard became the 29th Wildcat to reach the 1,000-point career mark. If Juice gets 118 points the rest of the year, he'll pass NU assistant coach Tavaras Hardy for 22nd place on the all-time list.

--Northwestern took its worst beating of the year on the boards (36-21). Of the 47 missed shots that stayed inbounds, Penn State grabbed 32 of them.

--Penn State's 56.3 percent field-goal shooting ranked No. 2 against NU this year. Only Michigan State's 57.4% performance on Jan. 2 (again, a day when the Wildcats' 1-3-1 trap was savaged) surpassed it.

LW