Bryant McIntosh, like he so often does, knifed his way into the lane and calmly hit a floater over a taller defender. A profoundly Dayton-heavy crowd fell silent. The basket gave Northwestern an 11-0 lead, and head coach Archie Miller had seen enough. He called timeout.
Led by a well-distributed scoring barrage, Northwestern effectively went off in the first half. Miller’s timeout proved futile as he watched the Wildcats steadily extend its lead from 11 points to 24. Mired in a treacherous 4-for-28 first half shooting slump, Dayton was stuck at the 12-point mark for over 9 minutes as they watched its deficit grow.