Cats outhustle, outlast Badgers
Mohammed Hachad played another inspiring game and the Cats scored a huge win over Wisconsin Thursday, 62-51. Hachad scored a career-high 25 points and combined with Michael Jenkins to stifle Wisconsin with a hustling defense.
"The last few games he's been playing extremely well," coach Bill Carmody said of Hachad. "H was terrific out there tonight."
Vedran Vukusic continued his pursuit of the Big Ten scoring title and conference Player of the Year honors by adding 13 points. He tied Todd Leslie as the all-time Cats three-point leader with one three-pointer in the game.
So, where does this leave Northwestern's NIT hopes? Well, they look a lot better now. NU improved its record to 13-12 on the season, 5-8 in the Big Ten. With three conference games remaining, NU has to be a near-lock for an NIT bid. Wins over Iowa and Wisconsin help their cause. The Cats would need to win one of their final three games and win one game in the Big Ten tournament. Saturday's game against Penn State looks like the best bet of the final three ganes.
The Cats showed the most intensity of all season on the defensive end. Jenkins and Hachad set the pace for the intense effort, but the Cats also scrambled to edge the Badgers in rebounding. Jenkins and Tim Doyle, of all people, led the Cats with five rebounds apiece.
It was also nice to see Northwestern convert free throws in the clutch. NU hit 18-of-24 free throws on the night (75 percent).
Why is an NIT bid so necessary for Northwestern and not an NCAA bid? Yes, of course, a tournament bid would be wonderful, but an NIT bid is more realistic and would show a positive progression for the program.
And, yes, coach Bill Carmody's program is showing signs of turning the corner. Caromdy is now concentrating on recruiting players who fit the system (Craig Moore) rather than trying to take players with athletic ability and forcing them to fit into the Princeton offense (Mike Thompson).
Next year will be a rebuilding year with Vedran Vukusic graduating. However, freshmen Moore and Sterling Williams have shown some real flashes of talent. Moore is one of the team's headiest players and the best shooter outside of Vukusic. Williams is a budding defensive stopper and looks to be grasping the offense better. He is one of the few players who can penetrate to the basket and just needs to develop his mid-range jumper.
But the win over Wisconsin presents many reasons for optimism, not just for the postseason this year, but in upcoming years.
Listen to coach Bill Carmody's postgame comments
Comments
Thanks for linking to Carmody's post-game comments!
Posted by: Damer | February 23, 2006 11:16 PM
He took thompson because he had open scholarships because he can't recruit. the program moves backwards every year. this is the year they needed to do something. they will not win 5 big ten games for at least 2 years. carmody is not a big ten caliber recruiter.
Posted by: David | March 30, 2006 05:38 PM