Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said his team needs more from its big men.
Junior forward Bernard Cote and junior center Vince Scott have struggled this season, as Cote has underperformed and Scott, a reliable shooter last year, has suffered from a season-long cold streak. Carmody said their problems have been “neck-up” issues – the mental aspects of their game.
With a trip to Michigan Wednesday, the Wildcats’ front line of Cote and Scott have a chance to respond to their coach’s request against one of the toughest center-forward combinations in the Big Ten.
Michigan’s duo of 6-foot-9 senior center Graham Brown and 6-11 junior forward Courtney Sims are fourth and sixth in the Big Ten in rebounding, with 7.6 and 7.1 per game.
Michigan (11-3, 1-2 Big Ten) is second in the conference in rebounding margin, outrebounding teams by an average of 7.2 rebounds. NU (9-6, 2-2), with a minus-5.7 margin, is dead last.
“Brown is the solid hustle player, and Sims is just talented all-around,” Scott said. “We’re going to try a few things to slow Sims down, but he’s going to probably get his points and rebounds. We just have to try to contain them on the inside.”
Cote has had problems from the free-throw line during Big Ten play, making 36 percent (4-of-11) from the line. He missed three crucial free throws in the last four minutes of a 65-61 loss to Penn State last Wednesday. On the glass, the 6-8 forward is averaging just 2.4 rebounds per game.
Last Saturday against Wisconsin, Cote played just 11 minutes, the fewest since a November contest against Florida Atlantic.
“He hasn’t been playing as well as he can, and he knows it,” Carmody said. “It’s a confidence thing he has to break out of. He has to fight through it and start playing better in practice, and then the games. Then it’s good for the duration.”
Cote, a transfer from Kentucky, agreed that he hasn’t played as well as he had hoped, but he said he isn’t frustrated with his progression in his first season after sitting out last year because of NCAA transfer rules.
“Personally, it could be a little bit better,” Cote said. “But I’ve been getting some good shots and making a few here and there.
“But I could be doing more, like scoring in the post.”
Scott’s problems have been with 3-point shooting. The 6-10 forward, who shot 36 percent from 3-point range last season and finished second in the Big Ten in 3-point shooting percentage during conference play (49 percent), is shooting just 18 percent this season.
Since making 2-of-4 3s against Lehigh in the season opener, Scott has made just 2-of-18 3-pointers.
“It’s definitely been on my mind pretty much the whole season,” Scott said. “The 3s aren’t just missing – a lot of them are bad and don’t even hit the rim. So that’s not an issue of my shot being bad. It’s an issue of my confidence.
“You have to know the shot is going in, rather than hoping it’s going in. Last year, I had that confidence, but this year I’ve been struggling a bit.”
Carmody turned to a smaller lineup at some points in the Wisconsin game, with 6-8 forward Vedran Vukusic the tallest player in the game. But Carmody said he will not switch to a small lineup on a consistent basis.
“We need those long arms up there, especially in this kind of game,” Carmody said. “Even if you aren’t getting rebounds, you might be stopping other guys or contesting shots.
“Our bigger guys have to come through for us.”
Reach Scott Duncan at [email protected].
