By Abe RakovThe Daily Northwestern
COLUMBUS, Ohio –
It’s sad to say, but Northwestern didn’t belong on the same court as THE Ohio State University last night.
It’s a bad sign when the Kiss Cam was the most entertaining part of the second half, if not the game (although that might have been the t-shirt toss, when the crowd went as crazy as it did all game for a few cheap shirts. And there were the numerous dunks that also got the folks of Columbus fairly excited.).
The game went so poorly that mild-mannered NU coach Bill Carmody got frustrated enough to earn a technical foul with about nine minutes left in the contest arguing a fairly insignificant call – since NU was down by 25.
The No. 7 Buckeyes have everything the Wildcats don’t:
– An NBA lottery pick in G-Od (also known as freshman sensation Greg Oden).
– An NBA-style arena (where the fans pretty much just stare at G-Od and clap only when HE does something – like when G-Od dunked on an alley-oop pass from other super-freshman Mike Conley Jr. with two seconds left in the first half to put the Buckeyes up 34-15.).
– Oh yeah, and they have an offense that scores points.
To make matters worse for NU, G-Od was very human and Ohio State still won 73-41.
HE had a presence in the paint on defense and took up space on offense, but grabbed just six rebounds and scored a career-low five points on 2-of-4 shooting – mainly because all G-Od can do is dunk, make layups and hit free throws (left-handed, though) while he recovers from surgery on his right wrist.
As far as the Cats were concerned, they needed a four-minute, four-point spurt to get to 15 total points by halftime. An offensive explosion of 26 points in the second half helped NU finish with an almost respectable 41 points.
The problem wasn’t rebounding (the Cats were only out-rebounded by 10). It wasn’t turnovers (though NU had 17 to just eight assists). No, it was poor shooting and/or shot selection – the same problem the Cats have had in all five Big Ten losses. NU shot fewer than 33 percent from the field for the game, including 28 percent from 3-point range. The Cats aren’t going to win until they can hit some shots.
On the positive side, at least NU didn’t get embarrassed in a 27-point loss in the BCS National Championship game a couple of weeks ago.
Basketball Editor Abe Rakov is a Medill junior. He can be reached at [email protected].
