Cats squeak past Texas-Pan Am
Another awful outing for the Cats against Texas-Pan American on Friday. Northwestern won 56-48, but were outscored in the second half and looked out of synch much of the day.
Tim Doyle led NU with 13 points off the bench. It was Doyle's first game out of the starting lineup and you have to applaud coach Bill Carmody for trying to shake the team up a bit.
The offense seemed to click more with Davor Duvancic in the starting lineup. So far, Doyle has been a slight disappointment and may be more suited to the sixth-man role. He's a smart, heady player, and has made some smart passes. He rebounds very well for his size, but needs to chip in with a little more scoring. Averaging 4.9 points per game in 26 minutes is not great production.
Doyle isn't the only lineup change that Carmody has made in recent weeks. Evan Seacat is playing less and less frequently. And, let's face it, if Seacat isn't hitting his open three-pointers, he's not going to help the team. He's small and a liability on defense.
Mike Thompson is seeing limited time down the stretch in close games due to his problems at the free throw line. Thompson is now at 38% for the year from the line (14-for-37). He made only 1-of-6 free throws Friday.
Carmody is trying desperately to find the right mix for the team and a bit miffed at how poorly the team is playing.
"It's free throws, it's threes -- you've got to be able to make a shot," Carmody said after the game to the Sun-Times. "By not scoring, you put a lot of pressure on your defense. Some of these guys are better than what they're showing ... I think."
The Cats are 7-5 heading into the Big Ten opener on Wednesday against Indiana.