Barn Blowout
By Philip Rossman-Reich on
From the opening tip, Minnesota scored and scored and scored while Northwestern was helpless to do anything to stop it or to keep up. The Wildcats dropped their fifth Big Ten game in seven tries and leave the Barn with more questions than answers.
Rarely do you see a game when a team is absolutely dominated from the opening tip.
When it takes your team eight minutes to score its first point, sometimes the problem goes a little deeper than “just not your night.” For the second straight game, Northwestern has a pretty large deficit to analyze and a long way to go to solve its problems and get where the team wants to go.
Minnesota scored the first 11 points of the game and never looked back, outhustling and outworking Northwestern pretty much everywhere on the floor in a 75-52 stomping at Williams Arena on Sunday. The Wildcats’ upset win over the Spartans is a distant memory. All that is left is the puzzled and depleted Northwestern team that looks a shell of that team from just last week and a shell of an NCAA Tournament contender.
| Score | Off. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
| Northwestern | 52 | 75.6 | 40.0 | 14.3 | 13.6 | 14.5 |
| Minnesota | 75 | 111.1 | 60.6 | 17.4 | 16.8 | 23.1 |
The Four Factors are a widely regarded measure of important statistics that help determine the winner of a basketball game. Offensive rating is a measure of the amount of points scored per 100 possessions. Effective field goal percentage measures a team’s field goal percentage with the added weight of making a 3-point basket. Offensive rebound percentage is an estimation of the rate at which a team grabs offensive rebounds. Turnover percentage is an estimation of the rate a team turns the ball over. Free throw rate is an estimation of the rate a team goes to the foul line based on the amount of field goals it attempts.
The numbers — including the ones above — really do bear out how thoroughly Minnesota dominated this game.
The Golden Gophers shot 57.7 percent from the floor, driving past flat-footed defenders and poking holes in the Wildcats’ 1-3-1 zone defense. Minnesota gathered 10 steals, darting into passing lanes and using its length on the perimeter to bother Drew Crawford, John Shurna and the entire Northwestern offense. The Gophers even scored a few blocks on the perimeter off of Shurna. Minnesota had only four offensive rebounds, but each one seemed coupled with a put back and a make. And considering Northwestern did not force many missed shots, there were not many opportunities for offensive boards.
The Wildcats were the exact opposite. As mentioned, it took eight minutes to get on the board. But it was not like Northwestern missed bad shots. There were drives into the paint that were just erased by Minnesota’s strong defense and shot-blocking. The Gophers’ length — just their pure athleticism and long arms — enabled them to force the Wildcats into tougher shots, rushed shots and blocked shots.
The first play of the game, John Shurna took the ball inside and would have had what normally might be an easy layup. Except it was erased by Rodney Williams, one of his three blocks in the game.
Drew Crawford had the same idea, but he had to rush his half-hook shots and they ended up going too hard off the backboard. Neither Shurna nor Crawford could get anything going early. It took a while for Shurna, who scored 21 points on 8-for-21 shooting, to get going. Not helping was an uncharacteristically poor shooting night from the foul line. Shurna made two of his eight free throw attempts. He posted a true shooting percentage (which takes field goal percentage by taking points in proportion to field goal and free throw attempts) of 42.8 percent. A weak showing for someone who is usually very efficient.
As a team, Northwestern shot 32.7 percent from the floor, 8 for 20 from the foul line, and 8 for 26 from beyond the arc.
Even when NU did good things, like getting to the line 20 times, it came tinged with something negative. The Wildcats left opportunities to come back on the foul line.
Take for instance the chance for four points left behind after a technical foul on Minnesota. Shurna missed both technical free throws and then Northwestern turned the ball over on the ensuing possession the team had gained.
If there was ever a back-breaking moment it was that one. Except there seemed to be multiple points where the team’s will was absolutely crushed. There were back-to-back steals along the perimeter that led to fast break scores. There was the flat-footed defense and slow rotations that led to easy points. There were just a lot of mental breakdowns.
Maybe Northwestern was still exhausted from a long week and from the team missing two key players for most of it. Alex Marcotullio did return in Sunday’s game, posting a very solid performance with 11 points off the bench on 4-for-8 shooting. The schedule does not care about who is or is not playing for any team.
Maybe the Gophers are the exact kind of team that the Wildcats have trouble with — extremely athletic, willing to attack the paint and not settle for shots and disciplined defensively.
Maybe Northwestern can look at itself for its poor effort. There certainly seemed like moments when the team just had complete and utter breakdowns that are simply inexcusable. There were rushed shots as the Wildcats were chasing points and hoping to climb back into the game. The patience of the Princeton Offense was completely interrupted.
The Wildcats got down big and never seriously threatened. Northwestern has a long way to go, and a week to prepare for its next game.
That honestly might say more than anything else.
I certainly hope we can salvage some more wins and make the tournament but this has to be Carmody’s last season. I will give him credit for making some changes and adaptations that have led to mismatches to our benefit. But at some point, this is a reflection of Carmody.
Show me another job where you can be mediocre for a decade. This has to be his last season, and I’m not sure even a tournament appearance would save him long-term.
Gee, what a surprise. NU flops on the road, can’t shoot free throws, looks painfully out-athleted and shows no spirit or fight at all. Story of (most) of the last 50 years of NU hoops. What amazes me is the people who expect anything else. There’s always something — injuries, transfers, illness, whatever — that serves as an excuse, but the real answer is that NU hoops just isn’t good enough and that won’t change anytime soon. When’s spring football start?
It’s pretty simple: Fire Bill Carmody.
Please. It’s four years overdue.
If you love watching a head coach sit on the sidelines with his hand on his chin looking beaten, you’d had loved this game. I lost count of the number of times BTN went to a shot of Carmody and that’s what we saw.
We’ve now gotten flat out whacked in 3 of the last 4 road games (lost by 33 @ Ohio State; lost by 20 @ Wisc; lost by 23 @ Minn).
It’s one thing to lose. But to look so outclassed is another.
This one was embarrassing.
did not watch, but wondering if the injuries played any part in the debacle.
No, not really. In fact, “Turf Toe” Marcotullio was the only one on the floor who played with fire. It was a miserably played game, topped only by the shockingly inept coaching. Why in John Wooden’s name would we come out in a man defense against a team that is more athletic and has a better inside game but is the second-worst outside-shooting team in the league? By the time we switched to 1-3-1, we were down nearly 20.
Change is mandatory.
Starts with the head coach.
He’s had more than enough time.
These whippings have been ridiculous.
Then build a new arena NU, will ya? Get off your rear end and make something happen. Too much inaction.
+1
I’m sure our AD will have some insightful comments on the season, team, staff and the new facilities.
I can’t wait until they call for a contribution.
I’ve never understood why NU has allowed this pathetic situation to persist. You can turn a loser into a winner easier in BB than in any other sport because you only need a few good recruits. And coaching is all important. Great coaches can win anywhere; even at NU. With all this interest in trying to improve NU football cant there be just a little attention given to the BB program? NU is a B1G school in a major metro market. I’m sure we could attract a coach that could have NU in the tournament in three years or less.
I’m so happy the consensus here is to fire Carmody. As has already been said, it’s years overdue. Remember when we went 3-31 in conference play, years into his tenure as head coach? Or when our best player chose to never play college basketball again instead of playing under Bill for another year? We have no post presence and no depth, and with Johnny, Luka, and Davide all graduating this year, we’ll have to turn to freshmen Alex Olah and Mike Turner down low. Carmody’s teams continue to struggle, and the future does not look bright.
Recorded the game earlier and just finished watching as much as I could stomach. I don’t think I can take any more of this. I have lost interest in even going to Evanston to see them in person this season. They look totally out-manned. Our best players are so inconsistent we typically have no chance to win unless other teams play down to our level. We need to blow this up and start over. We need a new head coach and a whole new staff. There have to be some “up and comers” at smaller schools that would jump at a chance to coach a B1G team. What did we do to deserve this????
Answer … the alumni and students allow this year end and year out and do not demand better … NU has always been focused on the \total college experience\ and has never, ever been focused on winning … they may mouth \winning\ but they have a totally different definition of the word.