As a member of NU coach Bill Carmody’s first recruiting class, Davor Duvancic spoke very little English.

But now that he has mastered the language, he still doesn’t use it much.

“Coach always says that Davor is a shy guy, and that really is true,” said NU center Ivan Tolic, who lives with Duvancic and Vedran Vukusic. “He’s not really a vocal guy. He’s not going to say a lot, but he’s still going to say a lot without words.”

But as the team’s lone senior on scholarship, Duvancic has had to fill a role he never expected to have when he joined the team four years ago.

Because Vukusic, a forward, sat out a redshirt season because of shoulder surgery, Duvancic has been thrust into a leadership position on the team.

Vukusic and Duvancic are the only players to finish four years at NU from Carmody’s first recruiting class.

“I don’t know if we’re the favorites of coach Carmody or anything like that,” Vukusic said. “I’m sure, being his first recruiting class, we have a special meaning (to him).”

But other than providing the intangibles, the senior forward’s accomplishments on the basketball court are connected directly with the success of the Wildcats.

With the absence of Duvancic at Michigan State last Saturday because of the flu, NU played one of its worst games of the season en route to an 87-58 pounding.

But when the native Croatian puts in a solid game, the Cats always seem to prevail. In the seven games Duvancic scored in double figures last season, NU went 6-1.

“That was a good thing and bad thing because I wasn’t consistent on a regular basis,” Duvancic said. “I would have games with 10 or 15 points and then have games with two or three points.”

Duvancic has made a career out of dismantling Illinois defenses.

Two years ago in the Big Ten tournament, Duvancic scored 20 points — all in the second half — in a loss to the Fighting Illini in the conference quarterfinals.

“I don’t know why, but I think I see the orange color and I just get crazy,” Duvancic said. “I guess it’s my team.”

His career effort came against Illinois last season in front of a sell-out crowd at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Jan. 14, 2004.

Duvancic and the Cats defeated then-No. 25 Illinois, 70-60, in what was one of the team’s surprising upset victories last season. Duvancic scored a career-high 22 points in the victory and was the key especially down the stretch.

His 3-pointer from the corner that bounced high off the front rim and then dropped straight down into the basket was the nail in the coffin for the Illini.

The then-sixth man scored 17 points in the second half after Vukusic suffered a knee injury.

“That was just a great game to play,” Duvancic said. “It was so close, and then once Vedran got out of the game, it just happened to be me.

“I just felt like, ‘Oh wow, this is really my night.'”

The game vaulted Duvancic into the status of a crowd favorite for the Wild Side, NU’s student section.

Before that game, Duvancic was more of a supporting cast member with All-Big Ten selections Jitim Young and Vukusic holding the spotlight.

“I especially liked the crowd,” Duvancic said. “The crowd gets us going. (They’re) unbelievable. That’s the proof why we play so well at home. This crowd gives us an extra boost.”

But Duvancic has not shown the same flashes of brilliance this year as he did last season. He is fifth on the team in scoring with 7.1 points per game and third on the team with 4.8 rebounds per game.

“He just hasn’t been the same,” NU coach Bill Carmody said. “For three years, I thought he got better and better and better, and I expected him to continue. I would have been happy if he was just playing at the level he was playing last year, but he has not done that.”

NU will need another solid performance out of Duvancic on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. when No. 1 Illinois comes to town.

The last time the Cats faced a No. 1-ranked opponent at Welsh-Ryan Arena was Bob Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers in 1976.

Reach Zach Silka at [email protected].