The Northwestern women’s basketball team is preparing for a fresh start as the Beth Combs era begins in an exhibition game tonight at Welsh-Ryan Arena against Slovakia’s B.K. Poprad club team.
Combs will be coaching her first game for the Wildcats after replacing former coach June Olkowski, whose contract was not renewed after last season.
“My goal for this team is to know that when we end this season, we’ve given it everything we got, left it all on the floor, and that we’ve become the best players and people we can be,” Combs said.
This will be B.K. Poprad’s fourth game in its six-game U.S. tour. The traveling team already has faced Illinois, Marquette and Western Michigan, losing by 30, 27 and 9.
Combs said she wants her team to get real game experience tonight.
“We are going to put our first starting lineup in,” Combs said. “We want our defense to help create offense, and we want our team to work together.
“We are definitely going to work on some things, and our top players are going to play more,” Combs said. “It’s still very early in the season, so all of our roles have not been defined, but I do plan on playing everyone (tonight).”
Coaches have different philosophies regarding exhibition games: Some sit out star players so they can avoid injury and fatigue, while others treat the games as normal, regular-season matchups.
“We’re going to go all out, but we’re not going to put all our tricks out on the floor,” Combs said. “We’ve got to save some things so people aren’t quite aware as far as what we’re going to do.”
Combs brings a new philosophy to Evanston, including new offensive and defensive strategies.
The team has been working on the changes made in practice, Combs said, but the new system is not completely installed yet.
“We’re still working on it,” Combs said. “We’ve put in enough stuff that we are ready to start the non-conference season, and we’ll continue to build on that and get better at what we’ve implemented so far.”
NU was one of only two Big Ten teams to lose its exhibition game last season. The Cats met Holland’s national team and fell 69-62 in overtime. Nine of 11 players played in that exhibition, which readied the team for the pre-season.
NU managed to go 7-4 in its first winning non-conference season in five years, but finished the season 8-20.
“This year is definitely a learning year,” Combs said. “They’re learning a whole new system and a whole new way of doing things.
“We are really using our exhibition game as our first test to see where we are.”
Reach Abraham Rakov at [email protected].
NU vs. Slovakian club team
B.K. Poprad
When: 7 p.m. Today
Where: Welsh-Ryan Arena
