Wildcats Get Wild Win on Senior Night

Northwestern simply refused to allow its three seniors walk off the court at Welsh-Ryan Arena for the final time on Tuesday with a loss.

The Wildcats defied the odds, falling behind by as many as 12 in the second half and by six with less than a minute to go in the first overtime to claim an 82-78 double overtime victory against visiting Michigan.

“I’m still trying to figure out what happened...that was an unbelievable college basketball game,” Northwestern head coach Chris Collins said following the victory that lifted the Wildcats overall record to 15-15 and 6-11 in the Big Ten.

Though led in scoring, and for most of the night with an unstoppable inside game by Alex Olah (25 points, 12 rebounds), the most memorable moments of the night came from Tre Demps, who hit a three-pointer in the closing seconds of regulation to force overtime and two treys in the final minute of the first extra session to force the second.

“I saw their was pretty much nowhere to go and my goal was to maybe refuse the screen and create a bit of space, but he (the defender) did a good job of jumping in front of me, but I got just enough space to get it off,” Demps said of the regulation shot that tied things at 59.

A free-throw-line jump shot from Michigan’s Max Bielfeldt gave the Wolverines a 10-9 lead early on. They would control much of the contest behind a game-high 28 points from Zak Irvin and 21 from Aubrey Dawkins, who had 15 in the first half.

Both teams had good nights from the floor, with Northwestern making 47 percent of their shots and Michigan shooting at a 44 percent level - backed by four treys from Dawkins and a trio from Irvin.

“The shot-making for both teams was incredible,” Collins said. “I don’t either team deserved to lose this game, we were just able to make one more play.”

The Wolverines had some fans headed for the exits with a 71-65 edge with less than a minute remaining in the first overtime. After all, the Wildcats do not have the best recent history when it comes to pulling out close games.

But a Demps trey, followed by an errant Michigan pass and another Demps’ trifecta and we had a double overtime game on our hands.

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But for Demps, it’s not about him. He credited an assistant coach for a play call that led to the second game-tying three and DerShon Cobb, one of three seniors honored before the contest, for a nice pass to set it up.

“I thought he was done for the year,” Collins said of Cobb. “But he let me know in practice this week he was going to play. Not only did he play, he was tremendous. When you haven’t played for a month and come out for your last (home) game and get 14 (points) and 8 (rebounds) - that’s a special night for him.”

“The leadership of our seniors is incredible,”Demps added of Cobb, Dave Sobolewski and Jeremiah Kreisberg. “Those guys refused to let us lose.”

The focus for Northwestern now is continuing to move up in the Big Ten standings. They get one more shot during the regular season. Their finale is Saturday at Iowa.

“This was a team win, a program building win,” Collins said of Tuesday’s thriller. “Michigan is an elite program and Coach (John) Beilein is an elite coach. Anytime you beat a program like that, it is program changing.”

But the turnaround before the season finale in Iowa City is a quick one.

“We need to get back to work and ready for a really good Iowa team that is making a surge,” Collins said. “We know how good they are because we just played them.”

In addition to Olah, Demps and Cobb - Northwestern’s Vic Law (11 points) and Scottie Lindsey (10) also reached double figures. Bryant McIntosh had six assists for the Wildcats.