Northwestern University Athletics
Men Look To Chase Down Hawkeyes
1/9/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2004
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EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern men's basketball team began the season by playing seven games in 15 days. While that may seem like a lot -- especially for a team that has been going just seven deep -- the fact is the Wildcats seemed to play better as they moved further into that stretch. The final salvo was a convincing, 77-60 victory at Bowling Green on Dec. 6.
Since then the Wildcats have played just five games -- they took 11 days off for exams, then after two more games took a week off around Christmas. On Dec. 27-28, they played in the Sierra Providence SunClassic in El Paso, Texas, then had another 10-day layoff before jumping into Big Ten play Wednesday at Michigan.
The result was almost predictable. An extremely athletic Wolverine team took it to the rusty 'Cats, who looked out of sorts at both ends.
NU head coach Bill Carmody is hoping that, with the season moving into a routine now, his team will regain the form they had a little more than a month ago.
"It is good to get into a routine now," he said. "We play Wednesdays and Saturdays, and the guys are back in classes, so now everything is set for them -- they know when they have classes, when their meals are coming, and when they have practice or games. I am glad we are back into a routine."
One thing some of the Wildcat players could use is a jolt of confidence. The last two games, especially, the team has struggled to find shots -- especially in the lane. Of NU's 90 shots in those two contests, 49 have come beyond the arc, and that percentage rises sharply when you take away senior leader Jitim Young's inside play (seven of his 25 attempts have come beyond the arc). What is the cure?
"I am hoping that the play of our guards recently was an exception," said Carmody. "Neither T.J. (Parker) nor Mohamed (Hachad) has played with confidence. There is no cure for that, except to realize what you can do and then go do it."
The Big Ten left little room for confidence-boosting with the early part of the conference schedule. The Wildcats are on the road for four of their first six contests. The two home games? Illinois (this Wednesday) and Michigan State (Jan. 21), two of the preseason favorites.
What concerns Carmody most is that the team is not only struggling offensively, but also defensively. Michigan was a prime example -- the Wolverines got open shots all night, and not coincidentally they knocked most of them down. In fact, Michigan shot 65 percent from the field, the best shooting night by an opponent against NU since Carmody came to Evanston.
"It seems like we have been having a hard time defending teams, so we really need to see if we can stop teams from getting easy shots and shooting well against us," said Carmody. "We spent more time on defense during this latest break, but after Wednesday's game it looks like we need to keep working on it."
GAME 13
Northwestern (5-7, 0-1 Big Ten) at Iowa (8-3, 1-0 Big Ten)
Saturday, Jan. 10, 2004 * 1:30 p.m. CST
Carver-Hawkeye Arena (15,500) * Iowa City, Iowa
THE COACHES:
Northwestern: Bill Carmody, 4th season at NU (44-56); 8th season overall (136-81)
Iowa: Steve Alford, 5th season at Iowa (81-61); 13th season overall (237-138)
TV: ESPN Regional (Wayne Larrivee, play-by-play; Greg Kelser, analyst)
RADIO: WGN Radio 720 AM (Dave Eanet, play-by-play; Bob Hildebrand, analyst)
The Fun Fact
Wednesday was a night of firsts for Northwestern, especially when it came to the center position. Freshman Vince Scott made his first collegiate start in the post, while redshirt freshman Ivan Tolic-who has been plagued by knee troubles since he set foot on campus last year-played a career-high 14 minutes and scored his first collegiate point.
Northwestern vs. Iowa
* The Wildcats and the Hawkeyes are meeting for the 151st time; Iowa leads the series 103-47 (see page 94 of the NU media guide).
* Iowa won both meetings last year, 68-63 in Evanston and 77-61 here in Iowa City; the Hawkeyes have taken four of the last five.
* NU head coach Bill Carmody is 2-4 all-time against the Hawkeyes; the Wildcats are 0-2 in Iowa City during his tenure.
* NU's last win in Iowa City came on Feb. 26, 1994 (80-74); the Wildcats have lost seven in a row at Carver-Hawkeye Arena since then.
Second From the Top
Northwestern's Jitim Young is second among active Big Ten players in terms of career scoring (all games). Michigan's Bernard Robinson Jr. is atop the board with 1,263 points, while Young is second with 1,232.
Bernard Robinson Jr., Michigan 1,263
Jitim Young, NU 1,232
Michael Bauer, Minnesota 1,038
Ben Johnson, Minnesota/NU 1,005
Devin Harris, Wisconsin 1,003
Chris Hill, Michigan State 981
Kenneth Lowe, Purdue 911
Glen Worley, Iowa 895
A Look at the Big Ten Slate
NU is playing its second straight Big Ten road game today (the 'Cats were at Michigan Wednesday), but plays its next 12 games in a home-away format before finishing the season with two home games (Iowa, Michigan).
