After Craig Moore rebounded a 3-pointer and heaved the ball down the court to seal a victory, he and Jason Okrzesik embraced to celebrate a 62-60 win at Michigan on Feb. 26.
Freshman Ivan Peljusic jumped up and down and hugged teammates after the first Big Ten win of Northwestern’s season and the end of the Wildcats’ 20-game conference losing streak.
The hard work the team had put in since early October finally paid off on the court. It was a euphoric feeling.
Two days earlier, the women’s team celebrated its first conference victory, a 70-58 win over Penn State, with relieved smiles and a team huddle in its last home game of the year.
The happiness from the first conference victory was short-lived, as both teams struggled in their next two games. The brief moment of celebration gave way to the realization that each team has only one Big Ten win.
“Of course I thought we’d have more than one win,” men’s coach Bill Carmody said. “It’s been a struggle. I knew it would be a tough year, but I certainly thought we’d be doing better than we have.”
Even though Carmody’s team will win fewer than 10 games for the first time since 2000, the women’s team has not fared much better.
NU snapped a 16-game losing streak by beating Penn State on Feb. 24. But the Cats have lost 18 of their past 20 games heading into today’s Big Ten tournament.
“I’ve never had to deal with so many losses before in my life,” Big Ten All-Freshman Team center Amy Jaeschke said.
“You have to take it one day at a time and kind of push through it. There’s still small accomplishments that you have during the year that other people don’t see that are there. You have to build off those sorts of things.”
The basketball program is far from where it was a decade ago when the men’s team reached the 1999 NIT and the women’s team had consecutive postseason appearances, including the 1997 NCAA Tournament.
It has been a struggle for both teams to reclaim their past success.
The men’s team has a .406 winning percentage (108-158) since 1999, and the women’s team has a .243 winning percentage (77-240) since 1997.
“What is trying to happen at Northwestern basketball is not easy,” said Evan Eschmeyer, a member of the 1999 men’s NIT team and the program’s second all-time leading scorer. “If it was easy, it would have been done already a long time ago.”
This season has been tough for both teams.
The women’s team (5-25, 1-17 Big Ten) played through injuries that forced five potential starters to miss a combined 102 games. The Cats had to face the challenge with a young team and grow while competing against the Big Ten’s best.
NU had improved its win total in each of the past three seasons under coach Beth Combs and looked to be on track for its first 10-win season since 1999. The injuries sidetracked the improvement but let younger players gain more experience for next year.
“I think adversity hits in odd ways, but I think it makes you stronger at the end of the day, ” Combs said. “It hasn’t shown in the box score or in the win and loss column. I think we’ve really grown as a team this year, and I think our future looks good.”
The men’s team (8-20, 1-16) played without last season’s leading scorer, Kevin Coble, for the first nine games of the year and struggled to match up with the bigger teams in the conference due to its lack of size.
The Cats had difficulty winning consistently even after Coble’s return. NU struggled to put together a full game, playing its opponents close but conceding a long scoring run or failing to score for minutes to fall behind and ultimately lose.
The team has shown improvements in the last three weeks, but it has not come together for a second conference win.
“We’re out here every day working,” Coble said. “It’s not like we’re not doing anything about it. We’re well aware of what’s going on. I think you have to look at the big picture and the long term. It is what it is right now. We just have to continue to do what we’re doing.”
Both teams have seen positives, which will help them build for the future.
The men’s team will return all of its starters next season. Coble and Moore have shown they can score, and freshman guard Michael Thompson’s play shows promise.
Carmody said NU is a couple of big men away from being competitive again-and he has recruited 6-foot-8 forward John Shurna to fill that void next season. He said his team continues to fight and improve late in the season, even with just one conference victory.
“The team hasn’t quit all year,” Carmody said. “When you’ve only won one game in the conference, there’s a lot of opportunity to. I haven’t seen that all year. The difference between winning and losing is not that much.”
Injuries hurt the women’s team’s chances for an improved season. But Combs said she is encouraged by the steady growth from younger players who were forced to play this season.
When junior Kristin Cartwright and sophomores Kaitlin McInerney and Beth Marshall return next season, Combs said the Cats have the talent to compete in the Big Ten.
“We’re really pleased with our young kids,” Combs said. “We’ve got a lot of individual talent. Player for player, I think we can compete with anybody in this conference. What we have to be able to do now is put it together team for team.”
Being more consistent from year to year and competing in every game has been the struggle for NU’s entire basketball program.
Eschmeyer said the 1999 men’s team benefited from the experience of four seniors to reach the NIT. Both teams are set up to have a similar group of experienced players with good recruiting in the upcoming years.
“You have to take things in small steps,” Combs said. “You have to continue to change the culture and bring in more talented people. It’s definitely a process. It doesn’t happen overnight.”
