By Andrew SimonThe Daily Northwestern
When senior forward Tim Doyle converted a layup with slightly less than seven minutes to play in Northwestern’s home contest against Michigan, it brought the Wildcats within two points of the Wolverines.
It was also the last field goal the Cats would make until there were just 12 seconds remaining and the game already was decided.
NU (10-5, 0-2 Big Ten) put itself in position to beat Michigan (14-3, 2-0) and even its conference record but collapsed down the stretch and fell 58-46 Saturday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“In the second, half, their defense tightened up,” coach Bill Carmody said. “You’ve got to give them credit for being on top of our stuff a little bit better, but we have to make shots to win – certainly at home you have to – and we just weren’t.”
After dropping their Big Ten opener on the road to Penn State by 26 points, the Cats were much more competitive on their home court. The Wolverines never led by more than five points until senior Lester Abram’s 3-pointer put them ahead by seven with 6:03 left.
“We had the game right in that four or five-point range, but we could just never put that run together,” Doyle said. “It came down to making some baskets, which we just couldn’t do.”
The Cats shot just 19.2 percent (5 for 26) in the second half, including 1 for 13 on 3-pointers.
Freshman Kevin Coble had his second consecutive rough outing after leading NU in scoring during the non-conference season. The 6-foot-8 forward did score 10 points after being shut out against Penn State but made only three of his 13 shots.
“He’s obviously struggled the first two games, but he’s going to be the key guy on every team’s scouting report, and they’re all going to be gunning for him,” Doyle said. “He was playing out of his mind there for a stretch, and people started jumping the gun and calling him the next (former NU forward Vedran Vukusic). It’s his first two games in the Big Ten. I think he’ll be fine once he gets used to the style of play.”
After a slow start that saw them fall behind by five, the Cats hit three consecutive 3-pointers to surge in front, 20-15.
After Michigan briefly regained the lead, Doyle knocked down a jumper in the closing seconds of the half to tie the game heading into intermission.
Part of the Cats’ success in the first half came from their surprising success on the boards, where they pulled down 14 rebounds to the Wolverines’ 11. Coming into the contest, Michigan was out-rebounding its opponents by more than eight per game.
But Michigan was more aggressive in the second half and used its size and athleticism to out-rebound NU 26-14.
“We talked (at halftime) about having the mindset to go (after rebounds) and see what happens from there,” Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. “We really feel like we can be a team that’s really long and athletic, and if we can get our hands on it and keep it alive, maybe someone else can get it. So I thought our kids certainly did that very well for us, and we needed that.”
The Wolverines pulled away in the final minutes, icing the game with free throws while NU struggled to get any shots to fall.
Michigan got it done with balanced scoring, as seven players finished with between six and 11 points. Doyle led the Cats with 13 points and five assists and tied for the team lead with five rebounds.
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