ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Northwestern men’s basketball coach Bill Carmody may not admit it, but sometimes even he can be a “Rah, Rah” kind of guy.
This past week, the second-year Wildcats coach has been stressing to his team the importance of a quick start.
He even wrote, “Let’s all play well tonight,” on the board in the Cats’ locker room before Wednesday night’s game against the Wolverines.
And his team responded.
The Cats jumped to an early 7-0 lead and never trailed the fading Wolverines en route to a 58-54 victory.
“Fellas, we gotta come out with a little emotion,” Carmody told his team in the locker room before tipoff. “Can we come out offensively and see if we can get something done?”
So NU got the job done.
Whereas the Cats trailed by an average of eight points at the break in their first three Big Ten contests, NU headed into the locker room with a 12-point lead over Michigan.
Cats forward Tavaras Hardy credited his team’s defense for the quick start.
“(Carmody) attacked that issue of coming out strong,” Hardy said.
With Michigan’s 13 Big Ten championship banners hanging from the rafters of a half-empty fieldhouse, Michigan fans could only stare in frustration as the Cats came out on their toes.
The halftime entertainment at Crisler Arena was more appealing to Wolverines fans than their team’s first-half performance.
NU’s inside play improved throughout the first period as Hardy urged his teammates to keep their hands up on defense.
This allowed the Cats to force eight turnovers in the first stanza, including five steals. NU forced another eight turnovers in the second half and added three more steals.
“Last year we didn’t have much confidence in our defense,” NU guard Collier Drayton said. “Now we’re starting to believe in it. We have the best defense in the Big Ten right now.”
On offense, the Cats slashed the lane like butchers, as they converted five layups off backdoor cuts in the first half alone. The offensive quickness led to 16 of NU’s 21 field goals coming from inside the lane and a 43.8 percent field-goal percentage.
Michigan head coach Tommy Amaker said his team’s inability to stop the Cats from flashing to the basket made it difficult to overcome an early NU lead.
“They got out to a great start,” Amaker said. “They made a couple shots early, and that helped their confidence.”
Carmody attributed much of his team’s fierce play to seniors Hardy and Drayton. Hardy finished the game with 19 points and maintained his strong play down the stretch when Michigan fans began rocking the bleachers at Crisler.
He converted a layup from a Drayton pass late in the game to snap a 7-0 Michigan spurt. Hardy followed his layup with a put-back on NU’s next possession, giving the Cats a five-point lead with a minute-and-a-half remaining in the game.
For his part, Drayton’s tight defense kept the Wolverines’ leading scorers, guard Bernard Robinson and forward LaVell Blanchard, in check. Both were held below their season averages in scoring.
“(Hardy) and Collier – both seniors were just very good at getting the other guys going,” Carmody said. “They were playing with some zest that we haven’t played with.”
