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There's been no shortage of attention for the Northwestern Wildcats, those NCAA tourney first-timers from the Big Ten, and no shortage of questions either.
Here's one they fielded this week: "Have you been practicing your 'act like you've been there before' faces?"
The query, one of the dozens the Wildcats fielded before their maiden voyage into March Madness, left Northwestern point guard Bryant McIntosh staring back at a reporter with a serious gaze.
"How are we doing?" the player asked back.
So far, so good.
McIntosh's game-high 25 points — including two free throws with 15 seconds to play — helped give the Wildcats their first tourney victory, a 68-66 win over Bryce Drew's Vanderbilt Commodores.
"When you dream about these games, you don't dream about losing them. You don't dream about playing scared. You don't dream about being timid," Northwestern coach Chris Collins said. "You dream about playing great. You dream about having confidence. You dream about winning."
And Northwestern can keep on dreaming, as the Wildcats advanced to play Gonzaga, the West Region's top seed, on Saturday at Vivint Smart Home Arena.
Nearly 17,000 people were on hand for Thursday's contest between the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds, thousands of them dressed in Northwestern's purple and white. They roared when McIntosh drove to the hoop for the school's first ever points in the tournament. They stood as Northwestern took a 13-point lead into the second half. And they sweated it out as Vanderbilt orchestrated its rally.
The Wildcats led for more than 39 of the game's 40 minutes, but had to survive six lead changes in the final 1:36.
Vanderbilt point guard Riley LaChance put the Commodores on top 66-65 with 18 seconds to play, but a mistake on the ensuing inbounds play would bring about the end of their season.
"It boils down sometimes to just a couple inches here and there," Drew said after the game. "If the ball is maybe a couple inches either way, we're up here celebrating."
Vanderbilt junior Matthew Fisher-Davis scored 14 of his team-high 22 points in the second half. In a moment of late-game confusion, however, Fisher-Davis fouled McIntosh with the Commodores up by one, sending the Wildcat point guard to the line for a chance to reclaim the lead.
"He made a mistake at the end," Vanderbilt's Luke Kornet said. The 7-foot Kornet had 14 points Thursday, and was quick to offer words of encouragement to his teammate after the fatal foul. "He's the type of person that will feel some blame for it and stuff like that. But the second half we had, we had no chance if he didn't make some of the shots that he did."
And Northwestern's dream season would have died without McIntosh.
The Wildcats got 14 points from guard Scottie Lindsey and a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double from forward Dererk Pardon.
McIntosh, however, made sure the 'Cats were moving on. The junior guard went 10 for 16 from the floor, grabbed four rebounds and added three assists.
In Marches past, McIntosh has stood alone in a gym, envisioning what it might like to be called upon late in a tournament game. And as he went to the foul line with 15 seconds on the clock Thursday, he did just that.
"The kid's a winner," Collins said. "He lives, sleeps, breathes this. He's passionate about the game. He wants the ball in those situations."
The point guard sank both of his free throws and Northwestern put together a rare second-half defensive stand to walk off the floor — McIntosh's arms in the air as the Northwestern faithful celebrated — with the Wildcats' first win in the 78-year history of the tournament.
Twitter: @aaronfalk