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The Cats were down by 2 when he hit his first shot - a three-pointer. With the scored tied and only 0.7 seconds left in regulation, Vedran hit a two-pointer to clinch it for the Cats. For the first 38 minutes of the game, Vedran couldn't buy a basket. He wasn't even looking for his shot for most of the second half. TJ Parker came through with three three-point shots late in the second half to keep the Cats close. Davor Duvancic had one of his best games as a Wildcat scoring 14 points hitting six of his eight shots from the floor. He was able to penetrate the zone and score many baskets on drives to the basket. He also led the team with nine rebounds. The Wildcats did a much better job on the boards. They were out-rebounded 36 to 30. Mohamed Hachad played inspired defense throughout the game until he fouled out late in the contest. Jitim Young was unable to penetrate and get off easy buckets under the basket. He still contributed on the boards and on the defensive end. Greg Brunner kept the pesky Hawkeyes close. He led both teams scoring 19 points. Time and time again Iowa was able to beat the Cats match-up zone and get easy buckets from their big guys. Fortunately for the Cats, Iowa turned the ball over numerous times [14] in the game. Many of those turnovers came on the Cats full-court trap defense led by the three little big men - TJ, Jitim and Mohamed. Iowa shot under 20% from the three-point line and only 41% from two-point land. Northwestern's defense carried them tonight. If the Cats can win this Saturday against Michigan, they should get a bid from the NIT, but I don't think the Cats have a chance to make a good run in the Big Ten tournament. They aren't deep enough to play back to back games over long weekend. They do have the weapons to win a game or maybe two in the tournament, but unlike tonight, they will need all their weapons firing on all cylinders all the time if they are to make a run in the Big 10 tournament.
