NIU can’t hold second-half lead, falls at Northwestern

EVANSTON – The Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team went about 19 minutes without a turnover, and during that stretch erased an 11-point Northwestern lead and then took the lead in the second half at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

But the Wildcats heated up from the floor, the Huskies turned ice cold and started turning the ball over again, and Northwestern came away with the 89-67 win, ending a five-game winning streak for the Huskies.

“We were up by one at the half and we came out with a lot of energy,” said NIU forward Xavier Amos, who scored in a career-best 26 points. “But the second half, I feel like ... we really dropped off energy-wise, and they kept scoring basket after basket. And we just couldn’t come back.”

NIU (5-2) was looking for the second win at a major conference school in less than 48 hours, having won 89-79 at DePaul on Saturday. And even though they led 46-43 in the second half, the Wildcats (5-1) shot 71% in the second half.

NIU shot 37% from the floor in the second half of the loss. They did finish the game shooting 47% from the floor and 39% from 3-point range, numbers NIU coach Rashon Burno said were good enough for the win.

“We didn’t make them miss at the end of the day,” Burno said. “Like if I told you, minus the name of the opponent, you were going to shoot 47% from [the floor] and 38% from 3, you would say ‘I’ve got a fair chance of winning.’ We didn’t get stops. The defense let us down in the second half.”

The Wildcats led 22-11, but the Huskies were up 42-41 at the break behind 19 points from Amos. They led 46-43 after a floater by Zarqiue Nutter early in the second half, part of a 15-point game for Nutter.

Amos hit a jumper with 17:52 left to tie things up at 48, but Boo Buie, Ty Berry and Buie again hit 3-pointers to push the Wildcat lead to nine in barely a minute and a half. NIU never got closer than seven and never was within single digits for the last 14:41 of the game.

Buie scored 23 to lead the Wildcats, Matthew Nicholson added 15 and Berry had 14. David Coit, the Huskies’ leading scorer, was 5 for 13 and scored 12 points. NIU had 11 turnovers, six in the final 15 minutes.

Both losses by NIU this season have been by 22 points, including 92-70 in the season opener at No. 4 Marquette. NIU had won three straight road games, including the win Saturday against the Blue Demons, Burno’s alma mater.

“We won against DePaul. We can’t settle for that,” Amos said. “We have to keep playing, look forward to the next game. We can’t take a step back, take our foot off the pedal even though we won a few in a row. We have to keep pushing it, keep playing until the next game.”

Not only were the Huskies without Keshawn Williams, who’s been out since January with a knee injury, but they were missing Harvin Ibarguen, one of three bigs who have had key minutes this season and was injured against DePaul.

Burno said Ibarguen is day-to-day, and he expects Williams back in December. The Huskies play Dec. 5 at home against Indiana State.

Burno said most took the right lesson out of Monday’s loss and how the Huskies can’t be content after a big win, like the emotional win at DePaul on Saturday. He said his team had no energy or pop in the second half, even with just one day of preparation for the Power 5 foe.

“This is Year 3, and I expected us to be in this situation,” Burno said of his team’s best start since he took over in 2021. “We did a really good job of recruiting the right type of kids, and now we just have to make it work. Obviously, playing Northwestern one day prep ... this is a learning lesson. When you start winning, it’s a process learning how to continue to win. We have to be humble, have humility, watch film and we’ll get better.”