Northwestern’s Boo Buie (0) drives past Florida Atlantic’s Brandon Weatherspoon (23) during a first-round NCAA Tournament game Friday in New York.
Frank Franklin II/AP
NEW YORK — UConn coach Dan Hurley admits he’s superstitious.
His team is the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament after finishing the regular season 31-3 with arguably the best starting five in the country and a realistic chance to become the first team to win back-to-back NCAA titles since Florida in 2006-2007.
Still, he needs “armor” to settle his mind.
He has a lucky hat he wears for news conferences. On game days, his uniform is the same pair of boxers, tattered socks, blue suit and almost completely soleless brown shoes.
Chris Collins, on the other hand, appeared settled by the reality of Sunday’s circumstances. For his team to knock off the Huskies in the second round, it’s going to take more luck. If Northwestern has any chance of securing the program’s first trip to the Sweet 16, it’s going to require perfect execution.
“What’s beautiful about the NCAA Tournament is it’s one game,” Collins said. “If we had to play them in a best-of-seven, we are not going to win a series. That’s just the reality. They are the better team across the board. But that doesn’t mean on one night you can’t put it together.”
“Better” might be putting it lightly.
Hurley’s Huskies are an offensive behemoth, averaging over 81 points with a starting five that all average more than 10. Cut off one of the monster’s heads, and another shooting above 40% sprouts up.
The key for the Wildcats will be limiting the Huskies’ runs, remaining poised when they inevitably come and not having the same kind of first-half shooting performance they did against Florida Atlantic.
“This team is so prolific offensively,” -Collins said. “You’re not going to hold them to 50 points. They are going to score. We’re going to have to find a way offensively.”
The best example of where that winning offensive recipe could be found is by looking at the Wildcats’ overtime wins over Purdue and Illinois in the regular season. In both, Northwestern scored more than 90 points. Against Purdue, Northwestern shot 47% overall and 50% on threes. Against Illinois, it shot 55.1% and 61.1% from three.
The difference is on Sunday, the Wildcats will have to get it done without key contributors Ty Berry and Matthew Nicholson.
Injuries to Berry and Nicholson had added to senior guard Boo Buie’s load and raised the expectations for former role players such as sophomore forwards Nick Martinelli and Luke Hunger.
Another challenge in Nicholson’s absence will be defending 7-2, 280-pound Donovan Clingan. Against Purdue’s Zach Edey, Collins deployed a foul-heavy tactic. Given Northwestern’s lack of depth, the plan will be different against UConn.
“We have to be smart,” Collins said. “We have to use our bodies. We have to be physical. What makes this team so dangerous, though, is Clingan is a great, great player, but all of a sudden if you sell everything out on trying to take him away, you’re going to get killed by the rest of the team.”
Working to the Cats’ advantage is that they aren’t the same wide-eyed, happy-to-be-here tournament team they were in the past. This is their second consecutive trip to the second round.
Grad transfer Ryan Langborg adds another layer of experience, having helped lead Princeton to the Sweet 16 last year.
“We know we’re the underdog, and that makes us more confident because we don’t have anything to lose,” Brooks Barnhizer said. “We have always been the underdog. It definitely gives us a little experience going into the game.”
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