After getting its first taste of competition Saturday, the Northwestern men’s basketball team will take on the Northwest All-Stars in their second and final exhibition game tonight at 7 p.m.
The Wildcats showed flashes of last season’s 16-13 improvement in a 64-59 win over the EA Sports Midwest All-Stars Saturday. NU’s offense struggled at times but worked to perfection at others — resulting in a few sharp back-door passes as helpless EA Sports defenders looked on.
Cats head coach Bill Carmody said before Saturday’s game that he planned on getting all 10 of NU’s healthy players into action, but only seven saw extensive play.
Freshmen T.J. Parker and Jimmy Maley played 33 minutes and 15 minutes, respectively. Carmody said both players showed in practice that they had learned the basics of his Princeton-style offense.
“Coach said only the seven of us can play because there isn’t anybody else out there who knows how to run the plays,” Parker said after the game.
Parker started at point guard and dished out four assists to go along with six points and three rebounds. He turned the ball over three times — all in the first half — but seemed more comfortable as NU’s offense hit its stride in the latter part of the game.
“We didn’t look that good at the start, but then we got to making shots and had a good run,” Parker said.
Carmody said he has been pleased with Parker’s speed on the fast break.
“He gets the ball up the floor fast,” Carmody said. “And he’s only going to get better as he gets a little more direction.”
Maley had one rebound and two assists and turned the ball over just once. Fellow freshman Mohamed Hachad played only two minutes and never touched the ball before returning to the bench.
Carmody said he wished he could have given Hachad and Evan Seacat more minutes against EA Sports, but the Cats never built a comfortable lead.
NU likely will have to play without starting center Aaron Jennings against Northwest Sports.
Against EA Sports, NU suffered in several facets of the game without Jennings — rebounding, three-point shooting and defense.
Although the Cats won the rebounding battle 25-23, Carmody stressed that Jason Burke needs to grab more rebounds if NU is going to hold its own on the boards.
The 6-foot-8 senior had five rebounds in 34 minutes.
“I told him, ‘You can’t just get a few snatches here and there’,” Carmody said. “Just being out there 30 minutes, if you’re a drunken sailor you’re going to have three of them fall your way.”
Carmody said the Cats have plenty to improve on in their final tune-up before the regular-season opener against Maryland-Eastern Shore on Nov. 22.
“Our offense looked pretty good against the zone,” he said. “We have a lot to work on, and there are some things we haven’t done at all.”
