Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Hope to Stay on the Horse
12/30/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2004
NU-UTPA Game Notes in PDF Format
NU Statistics in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
EVANSTON, Ill. - On the eve of 2005 -- and, perhaps of more importance, the Big Ten basketball season -- Northwestern faces Texas-Pan American having won five of its last six games and looking to complete its best seven-game run since the start of the 2001-02 season.
Northwestern vs. Texas-Pan American
Friday, Dec. 31 * 1 p.m. Central
Welsh Ryan Arena (Evanston, Ill.)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Dave Eanet, play-by-play; David Kaplan, analyst)
TV: None
So why are there long faces in the basketball office? Probably because head coach Bill Carmody and his staff feel that the Wildcats, with a veteran group logging a majority of the minutes, still have a lot of work to do.
"The frustration is very high right now with the coaching staff and the players," he said. "Monday night, I felt like I gave the guys the same talk in the locker room that I gave the week before."
If he feels that way, it is probably because he did. In each of the last two games, Northwestern has jumped all over its opponents early, then allowed both to climb back in with sloppy, lethargic play.
As an example, the 'Cats have committed 11 turnovers in each of the last three halves of play -- more than they committed in five of the first eight games this season. Perhaps more alarming, all 22 turnovers committed Monday night against Delaware State came from the starting five, a quintet that is downright old in this era of college basketball with three three-year starters.
"The guys are giving us contributions, but they are also throwing the ball away," said Carmody. "We led the Big Ten in fewest turnovers committed last year (a conference-record 9.8), so this is a problem that needs to be addressed."
Friday, NU hosts a Texas-Pan American team that arrives in Evanston fresh off a 74-54 loss to UNLV Wednesday night. The Broncs, one of two NCAA Division I independents on the Wildcats' schedule this year, are 7-4.
Did You Know?
If Northwestern wins today, the Wildcats will clinch a winning record for the 2004 calendar year (currently they are 15-14). That would give head coach Bill Carmody two winning years at Northwestern--his teams went 14-13 in 2002. Prior to that, the last year that NU posted a winning record was 1983 (15-14). With a win today, this year's 16-14 mark would be NU's best since 1968 (16-7).
The Series With UTPA
This is the second meeting between the Wildcats and the Broncs in men's basketball; in the first meeting (on Jan. 23, 1999), NU took a 76-47 decision here at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
NU vs. the Independents
There are five NCAA Division I independent programs, and UTPA is one of them. Northwestern will meet another independent later this season when Texas A&M-Corpus Christi comes to town on Valentine's Day. NU's 1999 win over UTPA is the only game any Wildcat team has played against one of the current five independent programs.
IPFW 0-0
Savannah State 0-0
Texas-Pan American 1-0
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 0-0
Utah Valley State 0-0
Home for the Holidays
• NU is in the midst of its second straight four-game homestand; the 'Cats hosted Robert Morris a week ago Wednesday and Delaware State Monday. Northwestern concludes this home run Jan. 5, opening the Big Ten season with Indiana.
• The Wildcats opened the 2004-05 season with four road contests, a first for the program since 1915-16.
• The two four-game homestands were broken up by a road game at Arizona State--NU's only loss in the last six contests.
