By Ben LarrisonThe Daily Northwestern
In the lobby of Welsh-Ryan Arena, the phrase “Make Shots.” appears prominently on a pane of glass, surrounded by picture of this year’s Wildcats’ team.
The words, coach Bill Carmody’s simple and direct slogan, have over the years taken on a greater meaning than their obvious, literal interpretation.
On a Northwestern squad that has struggled with its shooting of late, the team’s ability – or inability – to make shots has come to impact an area where the Cats continue to falter: rebounding.
In Carmody’s Princeton Offense and 1-3-1 defensive schemes, NU often is out of position when it comes to crashing the boards. It showed in the Cats’ two most recent games, in which they were out-rebounded 37-13 and 37-22, respectively.
The result is an increasing demand on the Cats to find open looks and ultimately make more shots.
“You try to get good shots and not have too many of them,” Carmody said. “The more shots there are, the more (rebounds) they’re going to get … We have to limit the amount of shots that we take, because if we go up and down (the court) with these guys, we’re going down.”
The prospect of grabbing stray rebounds will prove exceptionally difficult when NU (10-7, 0-4) goes up against No. 7 Ohio State (14-3, 2-1) tonight in Columbus, Ohio. The Buckeyes boast 7-foot freshman sensation Greg Oden, the Big Ten’s leading rebounder and the likely No. 1 overall pick in June’s NBA Draft.
To counter Ohio State’s rebounding threat, the Cats will look to rely on two alternative strategies: using center Vince Scott’s long-range shooting to draw Oden outside and forcing turnovers with the 1-3-1 defense.
Scott, a 6-foot-10 senior who teammate Tim Doyle called “everything Oden is not,” is not known for physical play in the paint, instead ranking third on the team with 17 3-pointers. NU players said Scott hitting shots from behind the arc early could help pull Oden away from the basket and give the Cats a chance to take the ball inside.
Defensively, NU will try to compensate for its rebounding futility by forcing turnovers. While the Cats have been out-rebounded by an average of 7.7 boards per game this season, they have helped make up for it with a plus-4.4 turnover margin, highest in the conference.
“I think it’s a matter of throwing them off with our 1-3-1 and keeping them off-balance and forcing them into a lot of turnovers,” Doyle said. “(It’s something) we’ve done with Wisconsin and Michigan State, and they kind of threw the ball all over the place, so hopefully we’re able to confuse them defensively.”
Regardless of turnovers, Cats players said they know rebounding will be a problem against the Buckeyes, especially if they are without leading scorer and rebounder Kevin Coble. Coble was at practice Tuesday, his first since suffering a sprained ankle against Michigan State, and Carmody said that while he was hopeful, he was unsure of the freshman’s status for the game.
But trouble on the boards is a problem to which NU has become accustomed.
“We’ve been struggling with rebounding since I’ve been here, so it’s nothing new,” Scott said. “We kind of counter that with our ability to create turnovers, which we’ll need to do.”
Reach Ben Larrison at [email protected].
