Juice Thompson's 20 points were not nearly enough as the 'Cats fell in Iowa
Photo: Derek Tam
Well, it was a good run. An 11-1 start, national media attention, and the hope that we could witness the first NCAA Tournament bid in Northwestern’s history. Frankly, in the less than two quarters that I have attended Northwestern, I’ve seen better basketball than most Northwestern fans have seen in their lifetime. But that doesn’t mean that this 78-65 loss to Iowa didn’t hurt. This season, the Wildcats made their fans feel like Michael Corleone: every time we thought we were out of tournament contention, they pulled us right back in with a stunning upset or inspiring victory. But with this loss, the tournament chances have all but vanished. For those of you that didn’t watch the game, here’s how the team looked in the grade book.
John Shurna: B-
Yes, he was second on the team with 16 points, but Shurna played a relatively uninspired game of defensive basketball. More than once, he backed right out of the lane and let a driving Hawkeye have an uncontested trip to the basket and he could not stop Iowa from getting second and third chance points off offensive rebounds. And once the ‘Cats clawed back to within 12 halfway through the second quarter, Shurna disappeared, scoring three points in the final ten minutes. If Shurna wants to be considered the best player on the team, he can’t fade away when his team is trying to come back against a team like Iowa.
Drew Crawford: C+
Where did Drew go tonight? With only 22 minutes logged it was the shortest he has played since mid-December. In limited time, Crawford went 1-2 from beyond the arc as one of the only Wildcat players showing restraint from the three-point arc, and netted three rebounds. As one of the more exciting players on the team, Crawford should have remained in the game to hopefully provide a spark like the one he did to will the team back to a victory against the Wolverines in Ann Arbor.
Luka Mirkovic: D
Oh the inconsistency of the Wildcats…and Luka is no exception. With a double-double against Robbie Hummel and Purdue as well as a stretch of eight out of nine games with seven or more rebounds, it looked like a passionate and intense Luka was here to stay. But if the passionate Luka is the real Luka, he left that emotion back in Evanston. In one game, he reverted right back to his pre-season form, lacking intensity or awareness. Down 12 points with a minute left in the first half, he missed an easy layup that the Hawkeyes turned into a three pointer. Even holding on to the ball was a problem for Luka today, as he dropped a pass and was stripped down low. With a game like this, there’s no questioning why Coach Carmody only let him play 17 minutes.
Juice Thompson: A-
Juice played almost as well as he could have today; 20 points and a number of clutch threes while playing the entire game. With the team down 11 in the first half, a deep three by Thompson started NU on a mini-run to bring the game within six, the smallest margin since the start of the game. While it’s great to see the old Juice back and playing like a scoring machine, it can’t be all him if the Wildcats want to win a game.
Jeremy Nash: A-
Nash can do it all. If you need him to step back and let the offense flow through Shurna or Juice, he will do that. If you need him to throw the team on his back like he did against Illinois and essentially secure a victory, he can do that to. Hell, if you need him to bang down low as the only aggressive rebounding presence on the team, he can do that too. During a disgusting rebounding display by the NU big men, Nash took advantage and recorded seven rebounds to go along with his six points. Nash also did a great job creating opportunities for his struggling teammates as he netted six assists. Despite some questionable three-point shooting that led to a 0-4 mark from downtown, Nash helped pick up the slack wherever the Wildcats needed him to.
Alex Marcotullio: B
It’s tough for a bench player to score well if he receives significantly less playing time than the rest of the starters, but Marcotullio did his part scoring seven points, his highest since the first Michigan State game over a month ago. Marcotullio seemed to have been lacking confidence recently and it’s good that he knows that he can be a scoring threat.
Kyle Rowley: B- and a gold star
Rowley fans, remember today. With 9:56 left in the second half, Kyle Christian Rowley made his first big man move in a college game that I have witnessed. A beautiful drop step before turning around and laying the ball in over a Hawkeye defender, all that was missing was the emphatic two-handed slam, but hey, let’s not go overboard here. However, he wouldn’t be Rowley if he didn’t turn the ball over or commit a few fouls while he was in, but in only eight minutes, he grabbed two offensive rebounds to match his two points. Not a bad line coming off the bench.
Mike Capocci: C
Not a bad game for Capocci, who got a season high 15 minutes, but the four fouls killed him. It’s a shame whenever we get to see Capocci and he doesn’t throw down. Besides the fouls he grabbed three rebounds and score four points for a relatively productive game, all things considered.
Ivan Peljusic: C+
A quiet line for Ivan, three points, two assists and one rebound in 11 minutes of playing time. It would be nice to see him play big, but just like most of Northwestern’s big men, he would much rather play a few steps further away from the rim.
Davide Curletti: Pass
You know what’s great about the pass/fail option? If you don’t fail, you pass by default. Same idea goes for Curletti, who played a whopping three minutes. The way I see it, he didn’t do anything terrible, so he gets a passing grade. But unfortunately for NU, a pass doesn’t affect their overall GPA.
Coach Bill Carmody: C
If the blame for an uninspired Wildcat showing has to fall somewhere, it may very well fall at the feet of Coach Carmody. After two emphatic wins, it was essential that the Wildcats do not lose any winnable games if they wanted even a shot at the tournament. Whatever coach said in the locker room did nothing to impress upon the Wildcats the gravity of this game: win and you stay alive, lose and you are essentially done. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, if the three is not working, you need to change your strategy. After watching his team go 3-12 in the first half from three-point land, you’d think that he would begin to limit the desperation threes instead of having his team shoot another 16 more. And after Iowa continued to rain threes of their own upon the heads of the Wildcats, you’d think that Carmody would change up his defense to put more pressure out on the perimeter.
Overall GPA: 2.54 and a gold star
The gold star counts for something, but ultimately, the ‘Cats came out of the locker room cold and unfortunately played one of their worst games of basketball at one of the worst possible times. Even if the team realistically has little chance of making it to the tournament, the season is far from over and they still have an excellent shot of breaking the school’s single season wins mark. It may not be in the way we hoped for, but there is a great chance that this team will make NU history as one of the best teams to ever don Wildcat jerseys.
