CC and the team already know the answer. You put the ball in the hands of your leading scorer, senior and co-Team Captain Scottie Lindsey. Scottie has the fewest turnovers of all our starters, he's athletic can create for himself, shoot from deep, pull up or take it to the rim.
Look at tonight's offensive possesions:
5) With score tied at 65 with 2:21 to go, Lindsey received the ball being guarded 5 feet beyond the top of the arc. He hesitated, jam stepped, spun and scored at the rim to give NU the 67-65 lead. Clutch.
4) Next offensive possession with the score tied at 67 with 1:38 to go, Lindsey received the ball on the move off a screen 7 feet beyond the top of the arc. He dribbled down the right side of the lane all the way to the basket and made an impressive scoop-hook layup to give NU a 69-67 lead of the game with a minute and a half to go. Clutch.
3) The next offensive possession with the tie scored at 69 with just over a minute to play, BMac got his chance to make something happen. After bring the ball up the floor, he drove the basket, got himself in the air under the basket and turned it over throwing it back to an opponent. (It stings because we've repeated variations of this play in clutch situations, including stepping on the end line, dribbling off his leg, getting it stolen, etc. And BMac already wasn't having a good game.)
2) On the next offensive possession--now down 69-71--we were a little discombobulated, so CC took a timeout. What play did the coaches set up with 30 seconds to go down 2? An initial fake to BMac and then a two-man backdoor play from Pardon on the wing to Lindsey cutting from the corner. Purdue made a great defensive play to disrupt the pass... The play was indeed drawn up for Lindsey.
...That same play got crazy as we recovered the loose ball, passed it around and Skelly wound up missing on a good look from the corner. Lindsey grabbed the long offensive rebound and drove hard to the hoop--only to have his shot stuffed by Matt Haarm on another great individual defensive play by Purdue. Lindsey came up short, but made a strong play. Can't fault the decision and effort in that situation after coming up with the offensive rebound.
1) On the next offensive possession, losing 69-72 with 9 seconds to go--BMac made a good play to evade the foul and get an open look for the possible tie. It didn't fall. It wasn't BMac's night. But it was a good play.
0) With the game iced and NU losing 74-69 with 1 second to go, Linsdey took a half-court heave as the buzzer rang.
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It sucks that BMac didn't deliver on two big opportunities in the last couple minutes. However, don't overlook the fact that it was Lindsey who the team really went to in the clutch. Scottie is NU's final-minutes play maker. And when the team trusted Lindsey to make a play, he was pretty impressive.
I hate that we came up short, but I liked a lot of what I saw from the team tonight--especially only 7 turnovers.
Look at tonight's offensive possesions:
5) With score tied at 65 with 2:21 to go, Lindsey received the ball being guarded 5 feet beyond the top of the arc. He hesitated, jam stepped, spun and scored at the rim to give NU the 67-65 lead. Clutch.
4) Next offensive possession with the score tied at 67 with 1:38 to go, Lindsey received the ball on the move off a screen 7 feet beyond the top of the arc. He dribbled down the right side of the lane all the way to the basket and made an impressive scoop-hook layup to give NU a 69-67 lead of the game with a minute and a half to go. Clutch.
3) The next offensive possession with the tie scored at 69 with just over a minute to play, BMac got his chance to make something happen. After bring the ball up the floor, he drove the basket, got himself in the air under the basket and turned it over throwing it back to an opponent. (It stings because we've repeated variations of this play in clutch situations, including stepping on the end line, dribbling off his leg, getting it stolen, etc. And BMac already wasn't having a good game.)
2) On the next offensive possession--now down 69-71--we were a little discombobulated, so CC took a timeout. What play did the coaches set up with 30 seconds to go down 2? An initial fake to BMac and then a two-man backdoor play from Pardon on the wing to Lindsey cutting from the corner. Purdue made a great defensive play to disrupt the pass... The play was indeed drawn up for Lindsey.
...That same play got crazy as we recovered the loose ball, passed it around and Skelly wound up missing on a good look from the corner. Lindsey grabbed the long offensive rebound and drove hard to the hoop--only to have his shot stuffed by Matt Haarm on another great individual defensive play by Purdue. Lindsey came up short, but made a strong play. Can't fault the decision and effort in that situation after coming up with the offensive rebound.
1) On the next offensive possession, losing 69-72 with 9 seconds to go--BMac made a good play to evade the foul and get an open look for the possible tie. It didn't fall. It wasn't BMac's night. But it was a good play.
0) With the game iced and NU losing 74-69 with 1 second to go, Linsdey took a half-court heave as the buzzer rang.
--
It sucks that BMac didn't deliver on two big opportunities in the last couple minutes. However, don't overlook the fact that it was Lindsey who the team really went to in the clutch. Scottie is NU's final-minutes play maker. And when the team trusted Lindsey to make a play, he was pretty impressive.
I hate that we came up short, but I liked a lot of what I saw from the team tonight--especially only 7 turnovers.
