North by Northwestern

What is this team? Not a tournament team - that’s (almost) for sure. Days after beating No. 20 Michigan at home for the second year in a row, Northwestern (15-11, 6-7 Big Ten) was thoroughly defeated by the Maryland Terrapins (17-10, 6-8 Big Ten) in a must-win game in College Park, 73-57. After scoring 24 points against the Wolverines, senior Bryant McIntosh put up a goose egg while only recording one assist and one rebound in 28 minutes.

The tone for the game was set very early on. Maryland raced out to a 5-0 lead, then a 19-8 lead, then a 32-16 lead behind the sharp shooting of guards Kevin Huerter, Anthony Cowan and Darryl Morsell. Northwestern, meanwhile, relied on the scoring of Scottie Lindsey (20 points, 5 rebounds) to keep them in the game. Towards the end of the half, the Wildcats made a push as Lindsey scored 11 points in 4 minutes to bring the ‘Cats within 5. The barrage included an acrobatic three and an emphatic alley-oop.

LOOK OUT!@ScottieLindsey and @NUMensBBall are making this a game now. pic.twitter.com/9uT6qki1pf

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 10, 2018

However, Northwestern never got closer than that, letting the Terrapins cruise to a comfortable win. Lindsey tried to play hero ball, taking more than twice as many shots as the closest Wildcat, but could not maintain his hot hand for the rest of the game. He ended up shooting 8-20, which was insufficient on a night when Pardon shot below 50% (4-9) and McIntosh went 0-5. Maryland wanted it more on Saturday and it showed, exemplified by this gif:

His dunks have been known to drop some jaws.

His blocks fall in the same category, in case you're wondering.@TerrapinHoops' @BrunoFernandoMV is a good one. pic.twitter.com/yKNDED1k3o

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 10, 2018

On the bright side, Pardon continued his impressive offensive rebounding, hauling in 5 of his 8 boards from the offensive end. Despite being just 6’8 in a conference of NBA-caliber big men, Pardon is 2nd in the Big Ten in offensive reboundswith 82, trailing just the beast of a man that is Minnesota’s Jordan Murphy.

The only semi-realistic chance Northwestern has of making the NCAA tournament is by winning the Big Ten tournament. That would require beating a team like Wisconsin or Iowa, then beating a Michigan State/Purdue/Nebraska, then beating an Ohio State or Michigan-caliber team in the final. Yeah...I don’t think so either.

NU has the chance to play the role of spoiler and gain some dignity on Saturday versus No. 4 Michigan State (24-3) at Allstate Arena.