Ever since it started practice three weeks ago, the Northwestern men’s basketball team has been itching to play a game.
On Saturday, against the EA Sports Midwest All-Stars, they’ll finally get the chance.
The game, which starts at 7 p.m. at Welsh-Ryan Arena, is the first of two exhibition games the Wildcats have scheduled before their regular season starts Nov. 22 at home against Maryland-Eastern Shore.
“We get to get started on our goals as a team,” junior guard Jitim Young said. “To get to the (NCAA) tournament, to have another winning season and build on what we’ve got going here.”
The Cats are coming off a 16-13 season that ended with an National Invitation Tournament snub, marking the first time in more than a decade that a Big Ten team with a winning record has been excluded from the tournament. Last season, NU also lost its first seniors to graduation — starters Collier Drayton and Tavaras Hardy — in three years.
To kick off this season, NU’s probable starters for the exhibition will be Young, senior guard Jason Burke, senior forward Winston Blake and sophomore Vedran Vukusic, Carmody said.
He didn’t name a fifth starter.
And Vukusic’s position on the floor is in limbo.
Senior center Aaron Jennings, who started 20 games last season, “probably won’t play” because of severe shin splints that have kept him out of practice this week, Carmody said.
“It’s going to be tough,” Blake said of the prospect of playing without Jennings. “He’s our big guy, he’s 6-11. We’re going to miss that guy.”
Vukusic could fill the center role in Jennings’ absence or play in his regular forward spot, Carmody said.
Two more players will also be inactive, freshman Ivan Tolic and junior Patrick Towne. Tolic will sit with a hurt knee that has hampered him since the summer, and Towne just came back after two months off.
Carmody said the remaining 10 players will all see action, including true freshmen Mohamed Hachad, Jimmy Maley, T.J. Parker and Evan Seacat.
“(The exhibition) for the freshmen is great because they get a chance to say, ‘Holy mackerel, these guys are a little meaner and tougher and stronger. Maybe Coach had a little something on the ball (when he told us that),'” Carmody said. “There’s so many doubting Thomases around here, it’s unbelievable.”
Added Young: “(The game) is just really to get the young guys used to how we handle our business.”
The newcomers have learned quickly and will be able to employ the full Princeton-style offense, Blake said.
“But it’s one thing to know the offense and another how to run it,” he added.
The exhibition also will give the Cats a chance to figure out what they need to work on, Carmody said.
“I know what we’re going to be pretty good at, and I think I know what we’re going to be pretty bad at,” Carmody said. “Some things you work on, and you can’t get any better. I don’t care if I worked all rebounding drills and did all sorts of other stuff. We’re not going to get any rebounds.”
The Cats are mostly just looking forward to some outside competition.
“We get tired of beating each other up in practice every day, ” Young said. “So now we get some new meat out here to play against.”
