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Craig Moore drained 7-of-10 three-pointers for a career-high 24 points -- and the Cats gave an inspired, hustling effort to beat Miami, 61-59, Tuesday night.

As opposed to a few previous outings, that Cats hustled and played with a lot more emotion before an ESPN2 TV audience. The Cats shot 51 percent from the field and held Miami to 34 percent shooting in the win.

Of course, the win did not come without a few moments that made you pull your hair out. NU almost blew a 10-point lead late in the game with poor free throw shooting (a continual Achilles heel) and turnovers against the Miami press. But they held on for the win against an ACC opponent.

The Cats stayed clear of turnovers for much of the game and finished with only eight in the game. However, shooting the ball so well and not turning it over AND still only winning by two are a concern. The fact is that NU will need to play near flawless basketball to beat any good team in the Big Ten. It's not impossible because the Cats will knock off a few teams this year. However, there will be nights when the Cats chances at victory are too razor-thin.

But Tuesday was not one of those nights. The Cats now stand at 4-3 on the year and play at home on Saturday, Dec. 9 against Western Michigan at 7 p.m.

Posted by Greg Shea at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kevin Coble rebounded a Craig Moore miss and scored to beat North Florida, 40-39, in a Saturday matinee.

Yep, only 40 points against North Florida. Tim Doyle led Northwestern with eight points. Craig Moore was 2-of-11 from the field, 2-of-9 from three-point range. The Cats overall shot 4-for-25 from three-point land. All against a team in its second year of Division I.

I know. It's going to be a long year.

"I told our guys that every game we're going play will be close," NU coach Bill Carmody told the Associated Press. "So let's get good at being in close games. Let's get good at the end of game situations because we're going to be in them. We're not capable of blowing people out."

Was he talking about the non-conference schedule or the season in general? Because, I'm not sure the games in the conference season will be that close. Not if the Cats can't generate any offense against poor competition.

The Cats play Miami in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Tuesday at Welsh-Ryan. Game time will be 8:30 p.m. CST on ESPN2.

Posted by Greg Shea at 07:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Northwestern's 64-40 victory over Brown Tuesday had a lot of hopeful, warm fuzzies. The Cats dominated from start to finish.

TIm Doyle led all scorers with 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting. He also dished eight assists. While he had an impressive game, the most exciting moments of the game came from the Northwestern freshmen.

I may be completely off-base, but it seems like the offense moves faster and with more precision when Kevin Coble and Jeff Ryan are in the game. At times this season, and in previous seasons, you sense that the team stands around a bit too much on the perimeter in the offense. Coble, in particular, moves so well without the ball that the whole offense seems to pick up the pace a bit. Everything is a step quicker.

And, during the game Tuesday, there was a point where I thought, "Wow, Coble might be our best player."

And really, it's not that far-fetched. Coble has size and can create his own shot. He can beat you from the outside and on a backdoor cut. In this Princeton offense, he'll eventually be a real challenge for teams to guard.

Ryan is coming along as a player and is now firmly entrenched in the rotation. He'll get regular minutes (10-15) from here on out. He just needs to hit a couple outside shots to really start rolling.

Jason Okrzesik knocked down a couple threes and continued to impress. The only concern with Okrzesik is his playing time, mostly as to how it affects Craig Moore. He played 19 minutes to Moore's 16. Are they too similar in style? Is splitting time between the two really a good thing? Is Carmody sending a message to Moore? All questions that run through your mind, but shouldn't at this point in the season. It was a blowout win against Brown and we can't jump to any conclusions yet.

Sterling Williams led the team in minutes with 28, but managed only four points. He looks very comfortable on the floor this year, but he has to be more involved offensively. Maybe he's too unselfish, but he needs to look for his own shot.

Before we finish this post, just a few words about Ivan Tolic and Jeremy Nash. It was great to see Tolic back in uniform, not only because of his terrible injury problems, but also because he brings much-needed size to the team. I'm not sure how many minutes a game he can play, but let's hope it's 20+ because he can be a force inside with his size. In the Big Ten season, he'll be needed.

Jeremy Nash looked great in limited time. He blocked a couple shots, made a steal that resulted in a full-court layup and he even mixed it up with a Brown player resulting in a double foul. Frankly, he looked out of place ... when he was on the bench.

The two freshmen Croatians (Ivan Peljusic and Nikola Baran) did not play and it looks like they'll redshirt. Would really love to see them play, but we'll need to be more patient.

Again, as we've said before, NU is going to struggle a lot this year, but the potential starting lineup in 2007 has a lot of potential if incoming recruits like Mike Thompson and Mike Capocci are what they are cracked up to be.

Posted by nuhoops at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Despite the loss to Cornell and the unimpressive win over DePaul last night, Northwestern really isn't as bad as you think. Let's look at the positives.

Sterling Williams looks a lot more confident. Kevin Coble has a nice touch and is a really smart passer and overall player. Jason Okrzesik looks like he knows the offense better than the whole team and can knock down a three. The team is really young and the whole strategy in recruiting is starting to take shape if you can envision next year's recruiting class (Thompson, Capocci) fitting in with this team.

But then there are the negatives.

Man, the Cats are painfully small and unathletic.Also, the team doesn't have a lot of players who can create their own shot. This truth was painfully evident in the second half when the Cats had a couple shot-clock violations. And while we're on that topic, how does the ball always find Vince Scott's hands when the shot clock is under 10? Does the team not have a point guard that can make sure that Scott doesn't make the key decisions when the shot clock is running low. That just has to change.

And the final negative with the team is the lack of depth. But it may not be as much a lack of depth as it is Carmody not going deep on his bench. I can understand that in February when the playing rotation is set, but not in November. I would have liked to have seen Jeremy Nash or one of the two Croatian freshmen (Nikola Baran or Ivan Peljusic). These guys need to play. We need to find out if they can play.

Otherwise, this could be a very long season and all we'll have to write about is recruting.

Posted by Greg Shea at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)