A couple of hours after the final buzzer of Wednesday’s 24-point loss to Michigan, the Wildcats were on an hour-long flight back to Evanston.
It wasn’t a pleasant ride home.
“Nobody talked,” forward Ivan Tolic said. “You know when you’re sitting on that plane just looking out the window and you’re just looking into nowhere? That’s basically what it was. I didn’t do anything but stare for an hour.”
While Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said his team can compete with the better squads in the Big Ten, he didn’t mind the somber mood Wednesday night.
“You don’t want guys singing and dancing after a loss like that,” he said. “You want guys thinking a little bit about what’s going on.”
By midnight, the Cats (5-7, 0-1 Big Ten) had returned to Welsh-Ryan Arena, weary from the lopsided loss. Several hours later, Carmody was back at work preparing for Saturday’s game at Iowa (8-3, 1-0).
He and his coaching staff spent most of Thursday morning watching game film of the Hawkeyes. They also watched tape of NU’s ’02-’03 squad, looking to see why sophomore guards T.J. Parker and Mohamed Hachad haven’t been able to duplicate their performances of last season.
Despite pondering the film, Carmody’s still not sure what the Cats’ problem is. But with NU traveling to Iowa today, he says he has gotten over Wednesday’s loss.
“It’s not like you have one game left in the season, or one week,” he said. “We’re just starting here. We’ve got to figure out something here and get it going.”
Parker, who criticized his own lethargic play after the Michigan game, was more upbeat Thursday, arriving to practice an hour early to work on his jump shot and play one-on-one against an old friend. Parker handily won the game, showing plenty of competitive fire as he fought for bragging rights.
“I talked to my dad and he got on me pretty hard,” Parker said. “He told me to go out there and be aggressive and just play my game, not to just go out there to look good.”
While Parker said he could put Wednesday’s defeat behind him, Tolic said he won’t be able to forget his first-ever Big Ten game. After spending more than a year sitting on the bench, waiting for his ailing knees to heal, Tolic had hoped for a better debut.
“You can’t get over that, it’s not one day, ” he said. “I’m thinking about the game all the time, yesterday and today. I’m going to be thinking about it tomorrow. I’m going to be thinking about it in a month when we meet them again.”
Wednesday’s loss was the Cats’ fourth straight, their longest slide since Jan. 8 — Feb. 1, 2003, when they dropped seven in a row. But Carmody plans to do his part to end the streak — he’s going to alter his wardrobe just a little.
“I’ve thrown away a lot of ties this year,” he said.
