With about a minute to play and Robert Morris leading by two, it was the Eagles’ Kenny Morris who took the game at Northwestern.
From the opening tip it seemed the Wildcats’ aggression would work against them and that proved true in the end.
Morris beat his defender and floated a shot over junior forward Kevin Coble, who came over for the block.
That gave center DeAndre Thomas, who transferred from Indiana this offseason, room to grab the offensive rebound and make the easy putback.
Senior guard Craig Moore, who struggled to shoot all game, missed the front end of a one-and-one, but got the ball off the offensive rebound.
Despite the suprisingly strong rebounding night from the Cats, Moore could not convert on the second opportunity. His three-point attempt fell short and the Eagles secured the rebound to seal a 69-62 win in an exhibition game Thursday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“It’s hard. We have to find positives from that and build on it,” Coble said. “It should serve as a little bit of a wake-up call. We work every day in practice, and we hear the same things and don’t necessarily take it to heart. It takes games like this to remind us that this is what it is going to take to win.”
NU trailed for most of the game after giving up a 13-0 run to trail 19-8 about midway through the first half.
It was an uphill battle for the Cats as they shot 23 percent from the field and one of 10 from beyond the 3-point line in the first half. They trailed the Eagles 34-25 after the first 20 minutes.
NU finished the game shooting 31 percent from the floor and made only five of 22 on 3-point shots.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Carmody said. “But I knew that. I think we got too many shots out of our center position. I think these guys are competing and they want to impress. We shot a little fast, and 72 shots is certainly a testament to that.”
But the team responded in the second half, scoring seven quick points to close the gap and keep the game tight until the finish.
Coble paced the team with 20 points and added six rebounds. Thompson had 12 points along with six assists.
Freshmen John Shurna and Davide Curletti made their presence known in their first game by taking care of the glass on the offensive and defensive end. The two freshmen showed some offensive flashes but struggled overall.
Shurna, Curletti, Kyle Rowley and Luka Mirkovic went a combined seven-for-28 from the field. It was a slow start for the highly-touted recruiting class Carmody brought in this summer.
“I definitely have plenty of room to improve,” Shurna said. “I think offensively, my teammates did a good job setting me up. I have to give all the credit to them.”
NU was last in the Big Ten in rebounding margin last season, getting outrebounded by about 10 boards per game. But adding size to the lineup during the offseason paid immediate dividends for the Cats on the glass.
They grabbed 17 offensive rebounds to the Eagles’ 11. NU was still outrebounded 47-42 in the game, but it was a product of their poor shooting and the added rebounding opportunities it gave Robert Morris.
Shurna scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in his debut. Curletti added seven more boards.
The Cats struggled to get the offense going, despite forcing 18 turnovers and getting numerous second-chance opportunities. They scored only 13 points off of their 17 offensive rebounds.
Coble said the team got sucked into Robert Morris’ up-tempo style of play and looked to push the ball too much. He said the team’s missed opportunities around the basket added up and hurt the Cats in the end.
“We shot way too many times,” Coble said of the team’s 22-of-72 shooting performance. “We got carried away with the tempo and we need to make sure we pull back on the reigns a little bit and pick our spots and take an evaluation of the game and see what the pulse is and do it at the right time.”
