Thomas' Double-Double Not Enough As Men's Basketball Falls At Northwestern

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EVANSON, Ill. – They say that every cloud has a silver lining. During the University of New Orleans' Sunday evening showdown at Northwestern, there were plenty of puffy gray matter, and the silver lining came in the form of a double-double by senior forward Erik Thomas.

Thomas' 17-point, 10-rebound outing, however, was not enough as the Privateers dropped an 83-49 decision to the homestanding Wildcats in Welsh-Ryan Arena. Entering the game winners of their last three contests and never trailing at any point in any of them, the shoe was on the other foot this time around as Northwestern scored the game's first points on a trey by Bryant McIntosh and never trailed at any point to extend the Wildcats' winning streak to four and improve to 7-2 overall. In defeat, the Privateers fall to 4-4 on the year.

"We played poorly," head coach Mark Slessinger said. "We turned the ball over at a rate we haven't had in a long time. We were careless with it. We allowed them to push us around a little bit. We weren't able to win our spots offensively and that disrupted our spacing. We had a lot to do with our flaws today. It doesn't take a basketball genius to figure out what we did wrong. We just didn't play well.

"We're disappointed that we didn't come in with a better effort and play better. We have some stuff that we'll look at on film and improve on. Today was an opportunity for us to take step forward as a program, and we didn't do it."

Thomas was one of two Privateers to finish in double figures offensively as junior forward Travin Thibodeaux added 10 and led UNO with a pair of steals. Senior guard Christavious Gill had a team-best three assists and two blocked shots. The biggest stat of the night, however, was turnovers as the Privateers committed 21. Northwestern was able to turn those miscues into 23 points and the Wildcats also outscored the Privateers off the bench, 41-10.

As a team, UNO hit just 36.7 percent of its shots from the field (18-of-49) – the Privateers' second-worst shooting night of the season – and allowed Northwestern to connect at a .443 clip (27-of-61). New Orleans actually held a 35-34 rebounding advantage, but the Wildcats turned 13 offensive rebounds into 16 second-chance points and kept the Privateers at arms' reach for most of the contest.

The Privateers held their own early on as the two teams traded baskets over the first six minutes before Northwestern rattled off six straight to take a 13-5 lead at the 12:55 mark. New Orleans got back to within six at 13-7 on a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Cameron Reed 37 seconds later, but would get no closer the rest of the night. The Wildcat advantage hovered around 10 throughout the middle portion of the opening stanza before scoring 19 of the final 26 points of the stanza to take a 43-22 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Gill scored the first points after the break with a jumper one-minute into the stanza only to see Northwestern go on a 21-0 run over the next six-plus minutes to quiet any talks of a UNO second-half surge. During that run, the Privateers were 0-for-6 from the field and committed four turnovers. New Orleans did have a 9-0 run midway through the period to make it 74-43 with 5:02 left to go, but managed just three buckets the rest of the way.

Northwestern's Nathan Taphorn came off the bench to lead all players with 18 points, followed by Scottie Lindsey with 16, Gavin Skelly with 14 and Vic Law with 11. Skelly fell one rebound shy of a double-double with nine, McIntosh paced the Wildcats with seven assists and the duo of McIntosh and Jordan Ash had two steals apiece.

UNO returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 17, when the Privateers play host to Louisiana-Lafayette at 2 p.m. in Lakefront Arena in a game slated to be broadcast live on Cox Sports Television. For tickets that game, and future Privateer Athletics events, contact the UNO Athletics Ticket Office over the phone at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or via the Internet by clicking HERE.