Northwestern University Athletics
Like Yesterday, A Great Opportunity
1/31/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2011
NUsports.com special contributor Skip Myslenski looks back on the two great opportunities the men's and women's basketball teams had this weekend.
They were running the play they call "Chin."
"We spread the floor out and look for a back cut off our center," Alex Marcotullio says, defining that play.
"We spread out and we cut. That's it," JerShon Cobb says, explaining it further.
"We were just trying to give them some good movement with all five guys touching the ball. We were getting open shots out of it, so we stayed with that," Michael Thompson says, concluding the description.
This was early Saturday evening at Welsh-Ryan Arena and now the 'Cats face-off with top-ranked Ohio State was rushing toward its conclusion. They had performed heroically all through this affair, performed with poise and passion and patience, and here they were tied with the top-ranked Buckeyes and searching for that final shot that could deliver them an outsized upset.
They were running the play they call "Chin."
"I got (Buckeye swingman David) Lighty on it one time and found Juice," Marcotullio would recall. That was back with just over 12 minutes remaining in this game and, off the pass, Thompson made a layup that cut Ohio State's lead to 10.
"That play kind of got me going and I was able to knock down some outside shots (after it)," Thompson would recall. Since that moment, in fact, he had buried a trio of threes and then a runner in the paint that had tied this one up at 57 with 1:32 remaining.
"We had the ball and the opportunity there and we were just trying to get a good shot, use the clock up," 'Cat coach Bill Carmody would say. "If you got something good, go, if you didn't, put the ball back in Mike's hand because he was effective in the end."
They were running the play they call "Chin."
"Alex thought he saw JerShon open on a back screen for a layup," Carmody will later say.
"I cut the back door. I was open for a split second," Cobb will later say.
"The last time," Marcotullio will say, "he (Lighty) just baited me a little bit. I thought I had him and he jumped in front of it. I figured he was behind and I could get it into him (Cobb). That's what it looked like to me. But he read me and just jumped in front of the pass."
Lighty jumped in front of it and stole it and, with that, the Wildcats' best chance for an upset was over. Instead, Buckeye center Jared Sullinger would now hit one-of-two free throws, 'Cat forward Drew Crawford would miss from half-court at the buzzer and Ohio State would escape by one and remain atop the national rankings.
*They were poised to snap their three-game losing streak and reinsert themselves into their conference race.
This was some 20 hours later at Welsh-Ryan Arena and here the 'Cat women were tied at 42 with Wisconsin, one of the four team's atop the Big Ten standings. Now, with 10:21 remaining, their senior point Beth Marshall drained a jumper from the left wing and suddenly they were up three and soaring and looking to expand that lead after making a defensive stop.
That was Brittany Orban's intention as she drove from the right elbow, but then, some six-feet from the basket, she was met by a pair of Badgers and lost the ball and crumpled to the court and remained there even as Wisconsin went onto the offense. Finally, after long seconds, the officials noticed her prone and stopped play with a whistle and here came 'Cat coach Joe McKeown to check on his player, who had already decorated the floor with blood from her mouth. He saw it and now he was in a stare down with the officials, his palms held out and his lips silently mouthing, "There's blood. There's blood."
"She's a tough kid," he would later say of Orban. "But she got cracked. Blood on the court."
They were poised to snap their three-game losing streak and reinsert themselves into their conference race, but after this mugging it all fell apart for them. Their next two possessions would end in turnovers, which allowed the Badgers to regain the lead, and now they would close out this game going just 2-of-13 from the field with five turnovers.
"We have to have the confidence that we're going to win every game, and when it comes down the line, we have to execute every play," Amy Jaeschke, their center and captain, would say after they fell by eight. "As the seniors and captains of this team, we have to step up and lead everybody else to those wins."
"It was just a physical game," said McKeown. "When you play Wisconsin, their brand of basketball is grind it out half-court, lot of pushing and shoving. We didn't do a very good job of handling that the last five, six minutes of the game. That was the difference."
*There was, then, symmetry to the weekend festivities at Welsh-Ryan and it resulted not only from a pair of enervating losses. The men, playing without leading scorer John Shurna (out with a concussion), employed a patient offense, limited the Buckeye possessions and showed considerable steel while crawling back from an early second-half hole that left them down by 13. "We decided," said Carmody, "we were going to control the game, if we could, with out offense. We just thought we had to limit their possessions, especially without John, we thought we weren't going to run up and down the court with them. I thought it went pretty well."
The women, in turn, matched muscle early with the Badgers and for long stretches adapted to the attention they lavished on Jaeschke, who was hounded, harassed and harried by double-teams throughout the afternoon. She would go just 4-of-12 from the field and end with a mere 10 points, 13 below her season average, yet Marshall (12 points) and Meshia Reed (13) were effective from the outside.
Both, then, were good enough to give themselves opportunities for signature wins. But Carmody has said that, without Shurna, his team's margin for error is very slim, and against the Buckeyes he was proven correct. For, despite its admirable effort, it shot poorly early; finished just 39.2 percent overall and 30 percent on their threes; and, mostly fatally, failed to get that final shot. "It all comes down to little things in the game. We've got to get a shot in that situation and we didn't," he would say. "Discouraging. Disappointing, clearly."
McKeown, similarly, has said that his team is good enough to beat any other in its conference, but not so good that it can overcome its own errors. It must take care of the fundamentals, he has often declared, and against the Buckeyes he too was proven correct. For, despite its long stretches of proficiency, it also shot poorly (39.6 percent overall, 34.8 percent on threes); surrendered too many open looks (the Badgers were 10-of-20 on their threes); and, most fatally, turned the ball over 19 times. "Beat Illinois (Thursday night). That's the biggest thing we can do," he would say when asked how he gets his team turned around. "That's it. Beat Illinois. There's no surgery needed. Just go out and play."
*JerShon Cobb said this before exiting on Saturday night. "We had the number one team in the nation, and I feel we should have won. If we can't be proud of that, well, we've got to take this and we keep building forward."
But the final word on this weekend must go to Joe McKeown, who late Sunday afternoon said simply: "Like yesterday. A great opportunity."
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