NBA News NBA News, Match Reports and Updates 
Northwestern hadn’t lost to DePaul since the turn of the decade. Five years of dominance, taking care of business against its smaller crosstown rival. A “little brother” of sorts.
That was not the case on Friday night. In fact, the roles were reversed. Northwestern was the “little brother.” Literally. Both smaller in size and in depth, the Blue Demons exposed the Wildcats’ Achilles’ heel in their 20-point win.
Advertisement
“Our offense really struggled tonight,” said head coach Chris Collins in his postgame presser. “A lot of it had to do with [DePaul]: their switching, their physicality, their ball pressure. I thought when the game was in the balance, we had a number of opportunities where we left points on the table in the open floor.”
Separation was nowhere to be found for NU in this one; its largest lead was two points, and it’s because of personnel.
DePaul’s pair of 7-footers Fabian Flores and Magoon Gwath anchored the Blue Demon defense, combining for 14 rebounds and four blocks on the night. DePaul finished with 45 and 11 in those categories, respectively, as its guards supplemented its play down low with relentless aggression and physicality, turning the game into a complete scrap.
And Depaul won in the margins where Northwestern lacked. Collins didn’t avoid that. He took responsibility for it.
Advertisement
“[Ade] Popoola had three offensive rebounds, [Noah] Meeusen had four — he’s the point guard. [He] wasn’t 7-foot. That’s seven offensive rebounds from their two guards. It’s got to be a collective effort. We knew they had good shot blocking. I thought we made some really poor decisions by taking some weak shots around the basket that they just cleaned up easily…we are shorthanded on the front line right now, but that’s not an excuse. You got to come out, and you got to compete.”
In a world where 20% of last year’s roster returned for the 2026-27 season, this rendition of the Wildcats eerily reflects what ‘Cats faithful saw last year: a small unit that struggled to…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/team-same-patterns-size-scoring-171911254.html
Author :
Publish date : 2026-11-14 17:19:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
