No energy. No leadership. No heart. No win.
After a fan yelled at him that his players had no heart during the Iowa game Wednesday, NU coach Bill Carmody had the last word.
His team overcame a 12-point deficit in the final minutes and beat nationally-ranked Iowa in a thrilling overtime.
But after a 65-52 loss to Ohio State on Saturday in which the Wildcats gave up a 22-1 run to the end the game, Carmody had no answers.
While Ohio State coach Thad Matta was very complimentary toward NU’s Princeton offense and the Cats’ ability to confuse Buckeye defenders, Carmody could point out no positives and seemed visibly shaken by the loss.
“There’s just not that zest that’s needed to win,” Carmody said. “We probably shouldn’t have won the game the other day against Iowa, and we won.
“And (the Ohio State game) was the game we could have won, and we lost.”
Even from the opening tip, the Cats seemed lackadaisical and unexcited.
Ohio State (14-7, 3-4 Big Ten) jumped out to a 7-0 lead, and NU (9-10, 2-5) didn’t make its first field goal until two minutes into the first half.
“I don’t have an answer for that,” Carmody said.
Leading to the late game collapse were two key turnovers from guard T.J. Parker in the final seven minutes and the inability of NU defenders to stop Ohio State from driving to the hoop.
The Buckeyes attempted 16 free throws in the second half and missed only three in the game.
But uninspired play isn’t a recent phenomenon for NU and has doomed the Cats all season.
NU was outscored 10-2 in the last five minutes of its 71-61 loss at Michigan on Jan. 12 and didn’t convert a field goal in that span.
The Cats also didn’t make their first field goal against the Wolverines until 16:06 left in the first half.
Even in the win against Iowa, NU didn’t show much enthusiasm in the first 30 minutes of the game.
The Hawkeyes started on a 10-2 run, and the NU shooters didn’t come to life until 15:29 left in the first half when they made their first field goal.
It wasn’t until the final 10 minutes when the Cats realized they needed to raise their level of play in order to mount a comeback.
“We have to have a lot of energy the whole game,” Parker said. “Nobody came out and played with the same intensity (against Ohio State as they did) in the big win against Iowa.”
A possible explanation Carmody has hinted at all season as the cause of scoring droughts and defensive lapses is the lack of team leadership.
Senior Davor Duvancic said the team’s struggles stem from a different issue: contributions from bench players.
“The problem all season is that we have five or six guys playing 35 minutes every night,” Duvancic said. “We have to find someone to come off the bench and to give quality minutes to this team.
“This is the time that someone has to step up.”
Reach Zach Silka at [email protected].
