THAT was impressive
to be honest, that is the type of game we've been waiting for. for eight years, we've been hearing "Princeton offense" and "back-door cuts," and tonight was that game. against a quicker and more athletic team, NU played great defense, slowed down the game once they got a lead, and knocked down outside shots, all adding up to a 14 point victory.
the game changed when Moore picked up his third foul three minutes into the second half. he stayed in the game, drew two charges, and teamed with Peljusic for their own personal 13-2 run. Ivan's back-to-back-to-back dunk, three, & and-1 gave NU the lead and they never really looked back. Moore is clearly the heart and soul of this team. he looked lost and frustrated as he didn't get off his first shot until seven minutes into the game, but his lead spot in that three-quarter court press seemed to help wear down FSU and keep the game at NU's pace.
Jeff Ryan got off to a slow start, including a missed layup, but he played through a nasty scratch on the face and ended up with more minutes than Shurna. Ryan and Peljusic took what had been Shurna and Mirkovic's spots in the lineup down the stretch. Shurna did have four offensive rebounds and eight points, but my god, that "jumpshot" is ugly.
at one point late in the second half, it looked like Toney Douglas had figured out that no one could guard him off the dribble, and i expected him to just take over. but the defense clamped down, holding FSU to just 27% shooting in the second half, and Douglas finished with seven turnovers.
of course, time will tell how big a victory this was. it is entirely possible, even likely, that Florida State just isn't that good. as the Wildcats were wrapping up the win, and the announcers were pontificating on what this win will bring to NU and Bill Carmody, all i could think of was that famous movie quote cautioning us not to get ahead of ourselves. you know, this one.
a few other random observations...
the game changed when Moore picked up his third foul three minutes into the second half. he stayed in the game, drew two charges, and teamed with Peljusic for their own personal 13-2 run. Ivan's back-to-back-to-back dunk, three, & and-1 gave NU the lead and they never really looked back. Moore is clearly the heart and soul of this team. he looked lost and frustrated as he didn't get off his first shot until seven minutes into the game, but his lead spot in that three-quarter court press seemed to help wear down FSU and keep the game at NU's pace.
Jeff Ryan got off to a slow start, including a missed layup, but he played through a nasty scratch on the face and ended up with more minutes than Shurna. Ryan and Peljusic took what had been Shurna and Mirkovic's spots in the lineup down the stretch. Shurna did have four offensive rebounds and eight points, but my god, that "jumpshot" is ugly.
at one point late in the second half, it looked like Toney Douglas had figured out that no one could guard him off the dribble, and i expected him to just take over. but the defense clamped down, holding FSU to just 27% shooting in the second half, and Douglas finished with seven turnovers.
of course, time will tell how big a victory this was. it is entirely possible, even likely, that Florida State just isn't that good. as the Wildcats were wrapping up the win, and the announcers were pontificating on what this win will bring to NU and Bill Carmody, all i could think of was that famous movie quote cautioning us not to get ahead of ourselves. you know, this one.
a few other random observations...
- 58% (18/31) from the free throw line is obviously a concern. they left a lot of points at the line.
- i will put Northwestern's ratio of white guys to muscles up against anybody from the Ivy or Patriot leagues.
- all those empty seats were a disappointment. the announcers did mention inclement weather, but attendance was only 3537, and i was hoping we could at least get the place half-filled.
- the Wildcats won the battle on the boards 41-33, including 18 offensive rebounds.
- to clear up the debate between announcers Terry Gannon and Stephen Bardo about this guy's haircut, the correct description is a fauxhawk. Dulkys looks like he belongs on this site.
- late in the game, Bardo delivered the line of the night when comparing the body types of Tavaras Hardy the Assistant Coach with Tavaras Hardy the Player: "He looks like he got stung by a few bees."
posted by Fire Bill Carmody at
8:15 AM
2 Comments:
It was amazing the Cats were so unable to finish around the basket. In years past they weren't getting anywhere near the basket, so I guess that's progress.
Rowley seems stuck to the floor, but at least he's big. Having relatively useful big men (Rowley for size, Peljusic for skill) seems to let all the other guys slide into more natural roles.
It's gotta hurt FSU fans to see NU nerds doing the tomahawk chop.
There was a bit of luck here. FSU didn't look sharp (passing, rebounds, turnovers) but NU was able to take advantage. NU played solid but perhaps not great.
My sense was that there was a small difference between this game and most other NU games. Typically they go on a good run (usually while behind) and give us hope they might win but end up falling short. I think that if our draw in the ACC-Big 10 challenge was Miami or BC, we'd be in that boat.
Still, a good win. And, it was good to see the student section pretty well filled. I recall being the only person there for some of those games in the early Carmody era.
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