With eight games left in the 2005-06 season, time was running out for Bernard Cote to make an impact in his first season with the Wildcats.
NU coach Bill Carmody seemingly was out of patience, as he chose not to play Cote two games ago against Purdue and used him for just six minutes last week against Indiana.
Halfway through the Big Ten schedule, the junior forward was averaging 3.6 points per game – hardly what he expected and what was expected of him after he transferred to Northwestern from Kentucky.
But with junior center Vince Scott having his own troubles, Carmody went with Cote at center for 19 minutes in NU’s 77-66 loss Saturday against Michigan State.
Cote responded with his best game of the conference season, scoring in double figures (10 points) for just the second time in his NU career.
“He hasn’t been playing that well,” Carmody said. “It’s a bottom-line game. If he’s not playing well, he doesn’t play. If he’s playing well then he plays.”
Although Cote had just one rebound, he played an active role in the interior of the NU defense.
On the offensive end, Cote hit two 3-pointers and played aggressively in the post.
“If you’re going to look for a bright spot, he hit a couple shots,” Carmody said of Cote’s 3-of-6 shooting performance. “We got the ball to him, and he missed a couple of (shots) down around the basket. But I hope in the near future that they start going in.”
Cote entered the game for the first time late in the first half, but in just five minutes of playing time, he gave NU a lift as he sparked an 11-0 run for NU.
With five points in five minutes at the end of the half, Cote helped erase Michigan State’s 11-point lead as the Cats (10-10, 3-6 Big Ten) tied the Spartans (17-5, 5-3) at 28 with 2:25 remaining.
“Cote played better for them,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “If he would keep playing better, I think that would make this team better.”
Carmody agreed that improved play from Cote is important in helping NU, which has lost six of its last seven games, climb from this slide.
With just seven games left in the regular season, Cote’s improved play may have come at just the right time for the Cats.
“I hope that this means something,” Carmody said. “I mean, he only has a month left, so he better start pretty soon, right?”
Reach Scott Duncan at [email protected].
