Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Set To Host Bucknell Tonight
12/3/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 3, 2003
NU-Bucknell Game Notes in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. - Prior to Northwestern's season-opening game with Colorado, head coach Bill Carmody was asked if he thought his team's depth-or lack thereof-would be a factor in the contest.
"Depth is definitely a concern," he said. "Depth will be a concern in every game we play this season."
Depth seemed to catch up to the Wildcats again Monday night; using essentially six players -- walk-on Michael Jenkins saw four minutes and freshman center Vince Scott less than one -- Northwestern seemed to run out of steam against a deep, athletic Seminole squad. The 'Cats took a five-point lead into halftime, thanks to some sharp shooting. That lead swelled to eight early in the second stanza, before FSU came roaring back. Northwestern was able to stay close until about the nine-minute mark, but the 'Noles closed the game by scoring 21 of the last 26 points to win going away.
A quick look at the box score reveals teams headed in different directions from one half to the next -- Northwestern was red-hot from the field in the opening period (12-of-21 overall, 7-of-11 from three-point land) but cooled off considerably in the second half (7-of-20 overall, 1-of-8 on treys). Florida State, by contrast, was passable in the first half (11-of-24 overall, 4-of-11 on threes) but positively scorching in the final 20 minutes (16-of-24, 8-of-11).
Carmody is unsure how to alleviate the problem, but acknowledges that the early-season schedule is doing little to help the situation.
"We started the season by scheduling seven games in 15 days, and (tonight's game) is the sixth one," he said. "The guys are banged up and we have not played well in the last few games, so we are a little down right now."
Tonight's game could truly be titled "no rest for the weary" -- Northwestern gets back at it tonight against Bucknell just 42 hours after arriving back in Chicago from Tallahassee.
Does this game scare Carmody? You bet it does.
"Tonight's game is not the kind you want to be playing when you have so little time for preparation," he said. "Bucknell is a solid team -- they gave Michigan State a great game a few weeks ago -- and they are very disciplined. I have seen a lot of these types of teams over the years and they always have scared me.
"To be honest, I would much rather have three or four days of practice right now."
NU wraps up this hefty early-season schedule with a Saturday afternoon game at Bowling Green.
GAME 6
Northwestern (2-3, 0-0 Big Ten) vs. Bucknell (0-3, 0-0 Patriot League)
Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2003 * 7 p.m. CST
Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117) * Evanston, Ill.
THE COACHES
Northwestern: Bill Carmody, 4th season at NU (41-51); 8th season overall (133-76)
Bucknell: Pat Flannery, 10th season at Bucknell (135-124); 15th season overall (230-167)
TV: None
RADIO: WGN Radio 720 AM (Dave Eanet, play-by-play; David Kaplan, analyst)
Northwestern vs. Bucknell
Tonight's game represents the first meeting between the Wildcats and the Bison in men's basketball.
Northwestern vs. The Patriot League
The Wildcats enter tonight's game with a 4-1 all-time record against the schools that currently constitute the Patriot League. This is NU's first game vs. a Patriot League team under Bill Carmody, who faced them regularly when he was at Princeton.
American 0-0
Army 1-0
Bucknell 0-0
Colgate 0-0
Holy Cross 0-1
Lafayette 0-0
Lehigh 1-0
Navy 2-0
Nearing the Home Stretch
Northwestern is not messing around when it comes to the start of the season. Tonight's game with Bucknell is the sixth the Wildcats have played since Nov. 21-just 12 days ago-and it comes less than 42 hours after the team arrived back from Florida State (1 a.m. Tuesday morning). NU will have one more game before exams begin; the 'Cats are at Bowling Green Saturday afternoon. Since the season began, the longest break NU has had between games is three days; they were the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday around Thanksgiving.
Some Team Notes
* NU's assist-to-turnover ratio for the season is 1.00 (78/78). The last time the Wildcats' cumulative ratio during a season was 1.00 or worse was through the third game of the 2001-02 season (44 assists to 50 turnovers at that point, a 0.88 ratio).
* NU has had nine steals in each of the last two games.
* NU has 78 assists on 103 baskets, a .757 ratio. Against DePaul, the 'Cats had 15 assists on 17 buckets; the following game, NU had 19 assists on 23 baskets against Northwestern State.
* When Northwestern opened the season against Colorado Nov. 21, it marked the first time the Wildcats opened with a "major conference" opponent since 1975 (at Nebraska, of the Big 12). The last time NU hosted a major-conference team to start the season was 1970 (Kentucky, from the SEC).
* NU's win over Chicago State marked the 12th straight time the 'Cats won when outrebounding an opponent.
* NU is 14-1 under Carmody when scoring 70 or more points in a game, as the 'Cats did against Chicago State.
* NU has won nine games in a row when shooting a better percentage from the field than its opponent, the latest case being Saturday vs. Northwestern State.
Noting the Northwestern Players (following Florida State...)
* Jitim Young fell one rebound shy of his second double-double this season (and fifth career) at Florida State; he had 17 points and a game-high nine boards.
* Young had three offensive rebounds in the FSU game; only Mohamed Hachad (5) and Vedran Vukusic (4) have that many total after five games. Young has 10 offensive boards this season; the rest of the NU players have combined for 16.
* T.J. Parker had his fourth double-figure scoring game of the season, with 12 points. He is tied with Young and Vukusic for the team lead in double-figure scoring games.
* Evan Seacat came off the bench to score 12 points-on a career-high four three-point baskets-in a career-high 23 minutes. It was the second-best scoring game of his college career; he had 16 last year vs. Illinois-Chicago.
* Seacat's minutes have gone up in every game this season (10, 15, 18, 20, 23), and he is averaging 7.8 ppg in the last four games after going scoreless in the season opener.
* Vukusic was held to single digits in scoring for the first time this year, with three points. He took just two shots. Vukusic also led NU with four assists and three steals.
* Davor Duvancic was also stymied Monday, scoring three points and also taking just two shots. Duvancic has averaged 10.5 ppg in NU's two wins this season and just 2.3 ppg in the Wildcats' three losses.
* Vince Scott played just one minute, a season low for the freshman center.
