Stanford tops feisty Cats
After a 13-point halftime deficit, the Cats made a game of it before falling to Stanford on Saturday, 65-59.
Kevin Coble led the Cats with 15 points, including back-to-back threes that cut the lead to 55-50 with 4:44 to play. Unfortunately, no other player scored in double figures. John Shurna, who had 20 points against Missouri-Kansas City earlier in the week, had early foul trouble and finished with only five points. Craig Moore and Jeff Ryan both had eight points for Northwestern.
This is a disappointing loss for the Cats. It was a chance to prove their ability to win against a quality non-conference opponent. However, at this point, the bigger concern is how to find consistent scoring from players other than Coble.
Moore and Michael Thompson need to be double-digit scorers. Shurna needs to be a consistent scoring threat.
But the Cats also need to figure out ways to slow down a team's high scorers. Stanford's Anthony Goods and Mitch Johnson had 20 and 16 points, respectively. They combined to shoot 13-for-17 (76 percent) from the field.
Clearly, there is still a long way to go before the Cats can claim to being a solid Big Ten contender this year. Tuesday's home game against SMU will be another chance to gear up for the conference schedule in January. SMU at 3-5 should be a very winnable game.