Once again, a familiar name was missing from Northwestern’s starting lineup. Junior swingman Tim Doyle came off the bench for the third straight game in Wednesday night’s 72-63 loss at Indiana.
Doyle shot 3 of 6 from the field and finished with seven points in 30 minutes. He also added five assists and three rebounds to help the Wildcats keep the game close in hostile Assembly Hall.
“Honestly, I would say yes,” Doyle said when asked if the Cats earned any sort of moral victory. “Are we happy we lost? No, but we feel good about the way we played.”
Doyle started the first 16 games of the season and scored in double figures five times, including a career-high 20 points in the Cats’ Big Ten opener against Purdue. But he was benched after a subpar outing in a loss to Wisconsin and a four-point, five-turnover performance at Michigan on Jan. 18.
In three games off the bench, Doyle is averaging eight points, four assists and one turnover in 30.3 minutes. The 6-foot-5 swingman posted 10 points, five rebounds and four assists in last week’s overtime victory at Purdue.
“All I can do is follow coach (Bill Carmody’s) orders,” Doyle said. “If he told me to play barefoot, I’d play barefoot. He’s the coach.”
The Cats were already trailing the Hoosiers by eight when Doyle checked into the game with 13:21 left in the first half. The St. John’s transfer provided a spark with a couple of defensive rebounds and an offensive board that led to a Bernard Cote 3-pointer. Doyle sank his own trey during an 18-10 run that tied the game at 22.
“It’s tough to come into the game down 12-4, and the other team has the momentum,” Doyle said. “But I’m one of the older guys, and I feel I can bring some stability.”
Doyle logged 11 starts last season and appeared in all 31 games. He finished second on the team with 74 assists but shot only 40 percent from the field.
This year Doyle has upped his field goal percentage to 52 percent while averaging a team-leading 4.3 assists per game, good for ninth in the Big Ten.
While much of Doyle’s contributions on the court don’t show up on the stat sheet, he leads the team in assists and steals and ranks second in rebounding.
“I honestly don’t know why I was taken out of the starting lineup,” Doyle said. “I’m not going to argue at this point.
“It definitely woke me up. I’d love to be starting again.”
Reach Gerald Tang at [email protected].
