The Matchup: Northwestern (11-3) @ Michigan (8-6)
Location: Crisler Arena (Ann Arbor, MI)
TV: Big Ten Network (1:30 PM CT Sunday Jan. 10th)
Radio: WGN 720 AM
Fun Fact: Bill Carmody got his first Big Ten road win at Michigan. Michigan was also the site of the 2007-08 Wildcats only Big Ten win.
About the Game
These two teams are very similar in how they play. Michigan was the only Big Ten team to beat the ‘Cats twice during the league schedule last season and that may have had to do with Michigan’s familiarity with the 1-3-1 defense. It will be interesting to see how the Wildcats attack the Wolverines offense this season. The 1-3-1 hasn’t been that effective of late, so NU might just scrap it all together versus UM.
UM’s offense is led by two future NBA players, Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims, the good news for NU is that while those two might be the best players in game, NU star John Shurna probably has a stronger supporting cast. You have to respect Harris scoring 19.4 points per game and Sims (17.3 ppg) playing as a threat both inside, where he converts more than 50% of his shots, and outside where at around 30% he converts enough to get the respect of other big men. This is important because like NU, Michigan will use the fact centers have to play outside on defense to setup backdoor cuts. This could the less of an issue for NU’s defenders if the ‘Cats play some type of zone. Sims is coming off two huge games in the Wolverines two game Big Ten winning steak against Ohio State and Penn State. Against OSU, Sims scored 28 points and he added another 25 versus Penn State to move his career total to 1,290 points. He should get to 1,300 against Northwestern.
UM’s other players are mostly three point shooters or ball handlers. However, they’ve really struggled shooting the three as they’re last in the Big Ten in three point percentage at 29.6%. As far as handling the ball, UM’s coaching staff has rotated a number of players to the point guard spot. Stu Douglass and Zack Novack are probably the best at taking care of the ball. Novack only has 9 turnovers this year in 421 minutes and Douglass has 10 in 387. NU will also need to be aware of him and Laval Lucas-Perry who helped the Wolverines break out of a major shooting slump in the second half at Penn State by hitting four threes. Before that, UM was 0-for-14 from behind the arc. With Michigan, like Northwestern, dependent on made threes for much of their offense, hitting open shots is critical to the team’s success.
Prediction:
This is a tough game to predict. A week and a half ago I would have said NU could go into to Crisler and win easy, but now I have serious questions about NU on both offense and defense. I think the past few games we have finally seen Northwestern start to miss Kevin Coble. Sure, John Shurna has scored a lot of points, but NU has seemed to lack a go to guy when suffering long scoring droughts where Coble could have taken the ball and got a good shot at the hoop. Shurna can get good looks, but he’s more dependent than Coble would have been on getting a teammate to set him up for a good look. If NU’s scoring problems continue in Ann Arbor, it’ll be a problem because I’m not sure how NU will stop Harris and Sims. Sims is actually scarier to me because Harris could have an off day shooting, but I don’t know how Luka Mirkovic or Kyle Rowley can defend Sims. I think this game will offer a chance for Ivan Peljusic or Davide Curletti to show their stuff. Hopefully they’ll take advantage because this game is critical for NU. However, after Thursday night I can’t honestly predict a Northwestern win. I hope I’m wrong, but I see Michigan’s athletes being too much for an NU squad which is slumping shooting and getting lazy on defense. Michigan, 77 Northwestern, 64
Friday, January 8, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Shurna Enough to get ‘Cats Past UTPA 53-44
John Shurna now has 20 points or more five games in a row. (AP Photo)“If Shurna wasn’t out there I don’t think we would have scored.” – Bill Carmody
The above quote, provided by Coach Bill Carmody during his postgame interview on WIND radio, pretty sums up tonight’s game between Northwestern and Texas-Pan America. John Shurna scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to record his first career double-double. Luka Mirkovic helped out with 11 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double of his own. No other NU player made more than one field goal.
NU’s second leading scorer, Michael “Juice” Thompson, didn’t score until 11:53 remained in the game. Jeremy Nash, an 87% free throw shooter, converted only one of his first four free throws attempts. Thankfully, Nash did covert his final three in a row to help seal the game.
Basically, this looked a lot more like an NU team from two or three years ago than the NU team from two or three weeks ago. The ‘Cats started the game with two missed layups and three turnovers on their first five possessions. They finished the game with a season-high 19 turnovers. Thompson had probably the worst game of his career since taking on a loaded Michigan State team two years ago as a freshman. He finished 1-of-9 shooting with 5 turnovers. He did covert 4-of-5 free throws some of which were critical down the stretch. It should also be noted that Coach Carmody did indicate Juice has been taking an easy in practice since hurting his hip late against Illinois. That might impact his rhythm. It’d be nice if Juice could just rest a bit more given the injury situation, but NU’s really short at the guard spots. Also, NU’s freshman guards looked more like freshman tonight than maybe any games since the contests in the season first week. Alex Marcotullio had 4 turnovers which were pretty much the result of his making terrible decisions on attempts to enter the ball in the post. Drew Crawford went 1-of-7 shooting and missed all his three point attempts. I hope this doesn’t mean they’ve hit that wall freshman often encounter early in the Big Ten season.
Basically, Coach Carmody’s quote above is dead on. This was John Shurna’s game, with a little late help from Luka. Shurna hit 5-of-7 threes tonight and had a 20+ point game for the fifth game in a row. If his teammates had been able to get him the ball more regularity Shurna probably could have scored 30 tonight. Luka Mirkovic continues to, at times, look unaggressive, but I did like how he attacked the glass against a smaller opponent tonight. However, Luka needs to get more comfortable looking to score close to the hoop. Also, for a player billed as a shooter, right now Mirkovic’s shot isn’t very consistent. He was 5-of-9 from the free throw line tonight and his struggles both there and from the arc since the Stanford game are well documented.
Off this uninspired effort, NU now plays their biggest game of the season to date Sunday at Michigan. The Wolverines have been inconsistent, but they’re feeling good right now after a big comeback win over Penn State which will no doubt give them some positive momentum. Northwestern needs to forget their past few games and refocus on becoming the confident team they were in late December. If that NU team arrives in Ann Arbor the ‘Cats have a good shot at Michigan. If the team from tonight visits Chrysler Arena, I think Manny Harris will be a happy camper.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Game 14: Texas-Pan America @ Northwestern Wildcats
The Matchup: Texas-Pan America (1-15) @ Northwestern (10-3)
Location: Welsh-Ryan Arena (Evanston, IL)
TV: www.bigtennetwork.com for $2.99
Radio: WIND 560AM
Fun Fact: Two possible UTA starters Julius Hearn and Matt Mierzycki are from the Chicago area.
About the Game
On paper this game doesn’t seem like much of a contest. Northwestern is competing for its first NCAA Tournament bid in history and has played well at home other than losses to a top-25 Butler team and the disaster contest Saturday versus Michigan State. The Wildcats also have Big Ten Player of the week John Shurna. On the other hand, the UTPA Broncs don’t have a player who scores in double figures and have serious problems winning on the road.
UTPA’s leading scorer at just over 9 points per game is Jared Maree. Maree is a 6-3 guard from Houston, Texas who makes just about 40% of his shots from the field and from three point range. The leading rebounder for the Broncs is a Chicago area product. Junior Forward Matt Mierzycki went to high school at Glenbrook South before playing two years for Parkland Community College. Mierzycki has only played 7 games so far this year and was originally planning to redshirt, but the Broncos coaching staff inserted the 6-6 forward against Texas and he has been in the starting lineup most of the games since. He is the only Broncs player with more than 5 rebounds per game.
Looking at how the much smaller Broncs might attack NU, guard Ben Smith shoots a ton of threes, but makes less than 33%. His teammate Nick Weiermiller also likes to shot the three (about 50% of his shot attempts), however, like Smith his percentage of made threes is in the low 30% range. As a team, the Broncs have struggled to make threes this year.
The best overall player on the Broncs is probably 6-7 forward Luis Valera scores about 9 points per game and averages a bit short of five boards. He is also the only Broncs started to covert more than 50% of his field goal attempts.
Prediction:
This game shouldn’t be much of a contest. I expect Northwestern to work on what they need to do in order to win a tough Big Ten game coming up at Michigan. If I were Bill Carmody I would have my guys put emphasis on defense and not forcing bad threes with a ton of time on the shot clock. Northwestern, 89 UTPA, 54
Location: Welsh-Ryan Arena (Evanston, IL)
TV: www.bigtennetwork.com for $2.99
Radio: WIND 560AM
Fun Fact: Two possible UTA starters Julius Hearn and Matt Mierzycki are from the Chicago area.
About the Game
On paper this game doesn’t seem like much of a contest. Northwestern is competing for its first NCAA Tournament bid in history and has played well at home other than losses to a top-25 Butler team and the disaster contest Saturday versus Michigan State. The Wildcats also have Big Ten Player of the week John Shurna. On the other hand, the UTPA Broncs don’t have a player who scores in double figures and have serious problems winning on the road.
UTPA’s leading scorer at just over 9 points per game is Jared Maree. Maree is a 6-3 guard from Houston, Texas who makes just about 40% of his shots from the field and from three point range. The leading rebounder for the Broncs is a Chicago area product. Junior Forward Matt Mierzycki went to high school at Glenbrook South before playing two years for Parkland Community College. Mierzycki has only played 7 games so far this year and was originally planning to redshirt, but the Broncos coaching staff inserted the 6-6 forward against Texas and he has been in the starting lineup most of the games since. He is the only Broncs player with more than 5 rebounds per game.
Looking at how the much smaller Broncs might attack NU, guard Ben Smith shoots a ton of threes, but makes less than 33%. His teammate Nick Weiermiller also likes to shot the three (about 50% of his shot attempts), however, like Smith his percentage of made threes is in the low 30% range. As a team, the Broncs have struggled to make threes this year.
The best overall player on the Broncs is probably 6-7 forward Luis Valera scores about 9 points per game and averages a bit short of five boards. He is also the only Broncs started to covert more than 50% of his field goal attempts.
Prediction:
This game shouldn’t be much of a contest. I expect Northwestern to work on what they need to do in order to win a tough Big Ten game coming up at Michigan. If I were Bill Carmody I would have my guys put emphasis on defense and not forcing bad threes with a ton of time on the shot clock. Northwestern, 89 UTPA, 54
Monday, January 4, 2010
Full Student Section Can Make a Difference
Welsh-Ryan can be a very tough place to play when students pack in below the baskets. (nusports.com photo)Thursday, the ‘Cats play a non-conference game against Texas-Pan America at 6:00PM. On the face of it, that day on the schedule looks like Welsh-Ryan Arena could be a dead zone, but I’m hoping that will not be the case. UTPA is the first home game of Winter Quarter and the first home game for students since NU busted into the national media spotlight for its Kevin Coble-less success. Yes, the ‘Cats are somewhat out of the spotlight thanks to the underwhelming game last week vs MSU, but it could also be a very entertaining game as these Wildcats have shown the ability to play a little “showtime” style basketball when facing an undermanned opponent and UTPA, with just one win so far, is pretty undermanned.
In fact, I think this would be a great game for students who don’t always attend home games to attend in order to get a look at the team’s ability. Hopefully, they’ll like what they see and comeback when Purdue, Wisconsin, and the rest of the Big Ten come to town.
With this post I want to specifically encourage the students who attend all the time to try and bring a friend or two out to the game Thursday night. I know it's tough, but see if you can get them hooked on the Wildcats. At least you've got a 10-3 record to help your sales pitch. It’s very clear the ‘Cats seem to feed off the energy of the student section and I bet they’d love to see the place packed not only for the “big guys” but for any contest they play. I also bet the players would appreciate seeing a large crowd after the MSU loss. These guys are Northwestern athletes, they’re smart, and they know the crowds at NU tend to shrink after losses, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Let’s make Thursday an exception the rule.
I also believe a full student section of purple has to be intimidating to those teams that come into Welsh-Ryan. Because it’s different in design than most college arenas Welsh-Ryan has been known as a tough place to shoot. When student fans that are nearly on the court can start screaming at players as they come to the free throw line the place can get even more intimidating.
Finally, I’d like to hear from students about what sort of buzz exists on campus for the ‘Cat hoopsters. Did Saturday have a negative impact? Are people planning on going to upcoming games or watching road contests? Send in your e-mails to welshryanramblings@gmail.com and let me know what’s being said in Sargent and LR2 (and other dorms and classrooms) about the ‘Cats.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Positive Thoughts...
This week has been really tough as an NU fan. Therefore, I went back into my archives decided to rerun a post from last year about my favorite experience as a Wildcat fan. I hope this reminds everyone why following the ‘Cats is so much fun.
On January 26, 2005, Northwestern and Iowa met for what is my favorite ever game as a Northwestern fan. Though I hold great hope that this year’s team will provide me tournament action which will usurp Michael Jenkins’s clutch three as my favorite NU basketball fan moment, the heroics of Jenkins and Vedran Vukusic will always be my favorite NU student fan moment.
As I think back on the game, I remember my friends and I arriving in the student section slightly late, about the under 16:00 timeout, thanks to having just played an intramural game. I also remember being extremely ticked about losing our game and getting ever angrier as I entered the arena and saw the ‘Cats down early. Thanks to our late arrival, we ended up in the corner of the student section closet to the Iowa bench. Through I generally preferred a more central location, this turned out to be a great seat. As the first half of the game progressed, the game got closer and the student section started taunting Iowa grade Pierre Pierce. Usually, it seems the taunts from the NU student section roll right off the back of the Big Ten’s stars, but Pierce seemed rattled. Late in the first half he started committing turnovers. Seeing the success of our efforts, we continued taunt Pierce the rest of the game, and he continued to turn the ball over. He ended up with 10 TO’s total. Combined with his 15 points, I suppose he could say he got a double-double, but it probably wasn’t the type he envisioned.
Despite our efforts, however, as the game went into the second half, it seemed Pierce and the Hawkeyes would get out of Welsh-Ryan with a victory. With only 3:27 seconds left, Iowa held a 12 point lead. At that point, Coach Carmody had the Wildcats start fouling the Hawkeyes. Coaches always have players start fouling late, but it rarely works. This time it did. Pierce and his backcourt teammate Jeff Horner proceeded to clunk free throw after free throw, and Vedran Vukusic started to take over for the Wildcats. Vedran scored 13 points to in the final two minute of regulation to tie the score. Most notably, with a sore shoulder which almost kept him out of the game, he drilled three straight free throws to send the game to overtime. Since we were close to the Iowa bench, we could see Iowa coach Steve Alford talking to his players during timeouts. At one point, a student behind me started shouting, “I read his lips, he said Vedran, he said Vedran.” Indeed, Alford tried to get his players to stop Vukusic, but they couldn’t.
In overtime, the Hawkeyes still couldn’t stop Vukusic. He brought the Wildcats to within a point at 73-72 when he made a basket and got fouled with just under twenty seconds left. NU then fouled Iowa, after the Hawks made a single free throw, the score was 74-72. Then, disaster seemed to strike for NU. The ‘Cats attempt to tie the game, a backdoor pass from T.J. Parker to Vedran, went out of bounds. Thankfully, Parker made up for his poor pass when he stole the ball from Pierce on the inbounds. It was Pierce’s final turnover, number ten, and the crowd let him have it as he walked towards the Iowa bench.
As the Hawkeyes gathered around their bench, it was again clear to the lip reader behind me that coach Alford wanted his players to keep close watch on Vukusic. It made sense. NU would want the player with 32 points to get his hands on the ball in an effort to tie or win the game. Thinking along the lines of Alford, I watched Vedran closely as the two teams came back on the court. As Tim Doyle stood with the ball under the basket, Vedran and Davor Duvancic ran a classic X-cross under the hoop. Iowa stuck with both tall Wildcats. Thankfully, Iowa was as focused on Vedran as I was and didn’t see little Michael Jenkins standing all alone in the corner. Doyle did, though. He threw a typically sharp pass to Jenkins. Once he had the ball, Jenkins let fly a three pointer. I remember as the ball went up and bounced high of the rim having time to think, “Damn, that was a great comeback, too bad we lost.” Thankfully, the ball didn’t hear my thoughts. It bounced high off the rim a second time and fell through the net. Final score: Northwestern, 75 Iowa, 74.
In a split second after the ball fell through the basket, I was on the court. It was the most amazing spontaneous outpouring of joy and excitement I have ever been a part of. I can’t say I really remember running to mid court, but I remember once I got there jumping up and down, high fiving everybody, and watching a group of my fellow students lift Michael Jenkins into the air in attempt to carry him off the court. It was an amazing shared experience. It’s the reason college basketball is so much fun, and the reason that as a student you should never miss a game. I know my roommates who didn’t see Michael Jenkins’s shot in person celebrated in our living room almost as much as those of us at the game, I saw the evidence when I got back Still, I don’t think they experienced that same shared experience of excitement as those of us at the game (Plus, they can't play "Where's Waldo" and find themselves in the photo at the top of the page). Anyone who was in the student section that night knows what I’m talking about. It’s hard to describe, but all I can say is I’ve been to a lot of sporting events and I’ve felt anything quite like it before or since. I’ve talked to family members who were NU students during the 1994 upset of Michigan and they describe that game in a similar way. I guess part of it is the magic of sharing a victory with your classmates. So, I say to all current students, make sure you show up the rest of the year, because you never know when that Welsh-Ryan Arena magic is going to strike.
On January 26, 2005, Northwestern and Iowa met for what is my favorite ever game as a Northwestern fan. Though I hold great hope that this year’s team will provide me tournament action which will usurp Michael Jenkins’s clutch three as my favorite NU basketball fan moment, the heroics of Jenkins and Vedran Vukusic will always be my favorite NU student fan moment.
As I think back on the game, I remember my friends and I arriving in the student section slightly late, about the under 16:00 timeout, thanks to having just played an intramural game. I also remember being extremely ticked about losing our game and getting ever angrier as I entered the arena and saw the ‘Cats down early. Thanks to our late arrival, we ended up in the corner of the student section closet to the Iowa bench. Through I generally preferred a more central location, this turned out to be a great seat. As the first half of the game progressed, the game got closer and the student section started taunting Iowa grade Pierre Pierce. Usually, it seems the taunts from the NU student section roll right off the back of the Big Ten’s stars, but Pierce seemed rattled. Late in the first half he started committing turnovers. Seeing the success of our efforts, we continued taunt Pierce the rest of the game, and he continued to turn the ball over. He ended up with 10 TO’s total. Combined with his 15 points, I suppose he could say he got a double-double, but it probably wasn’t the type he envisioned.
Despite our efforts, however, as the game went into the second half, it seemed Pierce and the Hawkeyes would get out of Welsh-Ryan with a victory. With only 3:27 seconds left, Iowa held a 12 point lead. At that point, Coach Carmody had the Wildcats start fouling the Hawkeyes. Coaches always have players start fouling late, but it rarely works. This time it did. Pierce and his backcourt teammate Jeff Horner proceeded to clunk free throw after free throw, and Vedran Vukusic started to take over for the Wildcats. Vedran scored 13 points to in the final two minute of regulation to tie the score. Most notably, with a sore shoulder which almost kept him out of the game, he drilled three straight free throws to send the game to overtime. Since we were close to the Iowa bench, we could see Iowa coach Steve Alford talking to his players during timeouts. At one point, a student behind me started shouting, “I read his lips, he said Vedran, he said Vedran.” Indeed, Alford tried to get his players to stop Vukusic, but they couldn’t.
In overtime, the Hawkeyes still couldn’t stop Vukusic. He brought the Wildcats to within a point at 73-72 when he made a basket and got fouled with just under twenty seconds left. NU then fouled Iowa, after the Hawks made a single free throw, the score was 74-72. Then, disaster seemed to strike for NU. The ‘Cats attempt to tie the game, a backdoor pass from T.J. Parker to Vedran, went out of bounds. Thankfully, Parker made up for his poor pass when he stole the ball from Pierce on the inbounds. It was Pierce’s final turnover, number ten, and the crowd let him have it as he walked towards the Iowa bench.
As the Hawkeyes gathered around their bench, it was again clear to the lip reader behind me that coach Alford wanted his players to keep close watch on Vukusic. It made sense. NU would want the player with 32 points to get his hands on the ball in an effort to tie or win the game. Thinking along the lines of Alford, I watched Vedran closely as the two teams came back on the court. As Tim Doyle stood with the ball under the basket, Vedran and Davor Duvancic ran a classic X-cross under the hoop. Iowa stuck with both tall Wildcats. Thankfully, Iowa was as focused on Vedran as I was and didn’t see little Michael Jenkins standing all alone in the corner. Doyle did, though. He threw a typically sharp pass to Jenkins. Once he had the ball, Jenkins let fly a three pointer. I remember as the ball went up and bounced high of the rim having time to think, “Damn, that was a great comeback, too bad we lost.” Thankfully, the ball didn’t hear my thoughts. It bounced high off the rim a second time and fell through the net. Final score: Northwestern, 75 Iowa, 74.
In a split second after the ball fell through the basket, I was on the court. It was the most amazing spontaneous outpouring of joy and excitement I have ever been a part of. I can’t say I really remember running to mid court, but I remember once I got there jumping up and down, high fiving everybody, and watching a group of my fellow students lift Michael Jenkins into the air in attempt to carry him off the court. It was an amazing shared experience. It’s the reason college basketball is so much fun, and the reason that as a student you should never miss a game. I know my roommates who didn’t see Michael Jenkins’s shot in person celebrated in our living room almost as much as those of us at the game, I saw the evidence when I got back Still, I don’t think they experienced that same shared experience of excitement as those of us at the game (Plus, they can't play "Where's Waldo" and find themselves in the photo at the top of the page). Anyone who was in the student section that night knows what I’m talking about. It’s hard to describe, but all I can say is I’ve been to a lot of sporting events and I’ve felt anything quite like it before or since. I’ve talked to family members who were NU students during the 1994 upset of Michigan and they describe that game in a similar way. I guess part of it is the magic of sharing a victory with your classmates. So, I say to all current students, make sure you show up the rest of the year, because you never know when that Welsh-Ryan Arena magic is going to strike.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Another Painful Loss: MSU Thrashes Wildcats at Home 91-70
Good teams make other teams play badly. That’s why they are good teams. They play defense or execute offense in such a way that their opponent is not able to play the game they are accustom to playing. Michigan State is a good team and did a number of things to take Northwestern out of their standard game such as always having a bigger player guard 5-10 Michael “Juice” Thompson and attacking the basket in transition flawlessly. Combined with a less than strong effort from NU on defense and a number of missed easy shots and free throws, Michigan State handled Northwestern with what can only be called from NU’s point of view embarrassing ease.
For example, Michigan State executed their offense well, but NU was pretty unaggressive on defense in the second half in both the 1-3-1 and 2-3 matchup zone. That might have been due to foul trouble, but NU didn't really start the half that aggressive either. NU always seemed to be reacting to something Michigan State did (which to be honest is what resulted in fouls) instead of aggressively trying to play defense and deny the passing lanes. I still think Northwestern is a solid team (a postseason team), but we’ve now seen NU play poorly on defense in both its Big Ten games. Today was particularly bad as MSU shot better than 60% from the field. NU’s next game is at home on Thursday versus Texas-Pan America. UTPA is awful, but if Northwestern plays defense like did the last two contests it’ll be a close game. If I were Bill Carmody I would use practice to put extra emphasis on working on defense. Maybe working more on the press NU has briefly shown.
Northwestern knows how to play offense. Even tonight NU got a lot of good shots. What was disappointing on offense for NU was how many layups NU missed. After John Shurna missed two early layups (though he at least made the rest of his easy shot attempts) I started counting missed layups for NU. The final total for missed layups by NU excluding layups missed when fouled (though I think NU could have finished a number of those) was 10 missed easy layups. That’s 20 points. Add 7 missed free throws and the total is 27 points NU without a doubt should have scored. That’s the difference between a close game and getting manhandled on your home court. If you want to place specific blame on players for not converting at the hoop, Jeremy Nash and Luka Mirkovic each missed three layups, but they had plenty of company in the category of guys who failed to finish.
The only Wildcats who really played well tonight were John Shurna who scored 29 points and does legitimately look like a Big Ten Player of the Year candidate (though his teammates will need to pick it up for him to get real consideration) and Alex Marcotullio who hit enough threes and free throws to score 16 points. Marcotullio also had one of NU’s few good defensive plays when he jumped in front of pass at the top of the 1-3-1 for a steal.
As I said above, I still think Northwestern is a good team, but they’ll really have something to prove their next two games. A home game versus UTPA should be an easy win, but with NU’s recent poor execution they have plenty to work on that night. Then NU starts Big Ten road play at Michigan. If NU seriously wants to be an NCAA Tournament team they need to pick up at least three conference road wins and that game presents an opportunity which can’t be missed after the OT loss at Illinois.
For example, Michigan State executed their offense well, but NU was pretty unaggressive on defense in the second half in both the 1-3-1 and 2-3 matchup zone. That might have been due to foul trouble, but NU didn't really start the half that aggressive either. NU always seemed to be reacting to something Michigan State did (which to be honest is what resulted in fouls) instead of aggressively trying to play defense and deny the passing lanes. I still think Northwestern is a solid team (a postseason team), but we’ve now seen NU play poorly on defense in both its Big Ten games. Today was particularly bad as MSU shot better than 60% from the field. NU’s next game is at home on Thursday versus Texas-Pan America. UTPA is awful, but if Northwestern plays defense like did the last two contests it’ll be a close game. If I were Bill Carmody I would use practice to put extra emphasis on working on defense. Maybe working more on the press NU has briefly shown.
Northwestern knows how to play offense. Even tonight NU got a lot of good shots. What was disappointing on offense for NU was how many layups NU missed. After John Shurna missed two early layups (though he at least made the rest of his easy shot attempts) I started counting missed layups for NU. The final total for missed layups by NU excluding layups missed when fouled (though I think NU could have finished a number of those) was 10 missed easy layups. That’s 20 points. Add 7 missed free throws and the total is 27 points NU without a doubt should have scored. That’s the difference between a close game and getting manhandled on your home court. If you want to place specific blame on players for not converting at the hoop, Jeremy Nash and Luka Mirkovic each missed three layups, but they had plenty of company in the category of guys who failed to finish.
The only Wildcats who really played well tonight were John Shurna who scored 29 points and does legitimately look like a Big Ten Player of the Year candidate (though his teammates will need to pick it up for him to get real consideration) and Alex Marcotullio who hit enough threes and free throws to score 16 points. Marcotullio also had one of NU’s few good defensive plays when he jumped in front of pass at the top of the 1-3-1 for a steal.
As I said above, I still think Northwestern is a good team, but they’ll really have something to prove their next two games. A home game versus UTPA should be an easy win, but with NU’s recent poor execution they have plenty to work on that night. Then NU starts Big Ten road play at Michigan. If NU seriously wants to be an NCAA Tournament team they need to pick up at least three conference road wins and that game presents an opportunity which can’t be missed after the OT loss at Illinois.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Football: 'Cats Fall in OT at Outback Bowl
In one of the stranger football games I've ever seen Northwestern fell to Auburn 38-35 in OT. This is the second year in a row the Wildcats have fallen in OT in a bowl game. This is a tough loss. The last play call for NU was probably questionable (but what do you do without a kicker? Also someone on Wildcat Report mentiond Zeke might have gone to quickly, and in the past I do recall more of delay on that play), the fact is NU had more than enough chances to win the game before that final play. Kafka's interceptions, Demos's missed FGs earlier in the game (it's amazing how even NU's good kickers go south when NU goes south for bowls), and a number of failed attempts to stop Auburn on 3rd and long are among the plays which could have turned the tide of the game before Auburn stopped Markshausen on the fake field goal. The worst part is that after two near misses Wildcat Nationa now has to wait at least another year to get a shot at a bowl victory.
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