Tuesday’s game against Maryland marked the first basketball game of the year that boasted a packed student section at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Unfortunately, it was the kind of night that made ‘Cats fans glad there are still two more years before Maryland becomes a regular opponent.
After a close first half, the Terrapins (5-1) dominated Northwestern (6-1) following the intermission, scoring 49 second half points en route to a 77-57 victory. Behind the play of forward Dez Wells and center Alex Len, Maryland took control for good with 7:40 remaining in the first half and never looked back, leading by as many as 21 points at one point.
“They really stuck it to us in the second half,” Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody said. “We basically didn’t guard.”
More importantly, Northwestern did not rebound. The Terps out-rebounded Northwestern by 28, including an eight-board differential on the offensive glass. Despite the discrepancy, the ‘Cats trailed by just two points at halftime before the added opportunities eventually wore away their defensive intensity.
“We knew exactly what Maryland was going to do … we simply just didn’t execute,” sophomore guard Dave Sobolewski said. “You’ll never win when you get out-rebounded by 10 to 15, let alone 28 or 30.”
As Maryland broke the game open in the early minutes of the second half with a 16-3 run, the size advantage in the paint was clear. The Terrapins scored 44 points in the paint during the game, doubling Northwestern’s output in the same category.
The lack of a scoring threat in the paint resulted largely from Carmody’s decision to play forward Mike Turner instead of center Alex Olah in an attempt to slow Len’s production. The move backfired, as Turner converted just one of six field goal attempts, while Len finished with 13 points to complement his 13 rebounds. But Turner was hardly the only Wildcat to shoot poorly – the team as a whole shot just 34 percent for the game, and only 24 percent from three-point range.
Carmody attributed these poor percentages partially to rushed shots. “We were taking too many threes, too soon,” he said. “When you miss a lot of shots, there are a lot of defensive rebounds.”
Senior Drew Crawford was one of the Wildcats who struggled Tuesday night. Although Crawford faces expectations to carry this Northwestern squad, he shrunk in the spotlight, finishing with just 10 points on 4-14 shooting.
Sobolewski and senior Reggie Hearn were the only players who did not appear to be struggling. The two finished with 14 and 19 points, respectively, and were able to create offense for themselves even when other Northwestern players seemed content to pass the ball well into the shot clock.
The ‘Cats clearly lacked a team leader Tuesday night, despite early projections that Crawford would carry the team with transfer Jared Swopshire helping shoulder the load. Despite this concerning development, Sobolewski took little stock in the result, other than its value as a learning device.
“It was a November game against an ACC team,” he said, rejecting the notion that this was an important game for the Wildcats. “It’s not the end of the season. We’ve got a lot of work to do, for sure. But we’re not gonna stop working and if anything, this is going to make us hungrier. It’s nothing more than a loss in November.”
Hearn agreed with Sobolewski’s sentiment, claiming this loss resulted more from a lack of focus and concentration on the Wildcats’ part than from anything the Terps did defensively.
“We didn’t make them move,” he said. “We didn’t make them work.”
Regardless, Northwestern must improve. An effort like the one seen Tuesday night is far from acceptable to Carmody.
“We have to be able to play with these guys,” Carmody said. “Especially at home.”
The ’Cats play Baylor, Butler and Stanford in the coming weeks – all opportunities to move past a disappointing loss. Despite being a game in which Northwestern was favored, this Big Ten-ACC Challenge game was hardly a challenge at all.