After its victory over No. 17 Minnesota, both Tubby Smith and Bill Carmody praised Northwestern for its stifling 1-3-1 zone.
When they visit No. 7 Michigan State Wednesday night, the Wildcats (9-6, 1-4 Big Ten) just want the opportunity to get into that defensive set.
The last time the two squads met in Evanston, NU held a one-point advantage at halftime. However, the Spartans (15-2, 5-0) came out of the locker room looking to run, and beat the Cats down the court on their way to a 77-66 victory.
“They are a fast-paced team, they get the ball out and go,” sophomore guard Michael Thompson said. “We have to get back and stop the ball and make them play against our 1-3-1 zone.”
Because NU is among the least turnover-prone teams in the Big Ten, it is unlikely that Michigan State will jump start its fast-break offense off miscues.
But that’s not the only avenue that leads to easy Spartan baskets.
Michigan State rebounds the ball extremely well and outlets the ball immediately to start the break. The Spartans lead the Big Ten in rebounding margin by gathering 10.2 more rebounds than their opponents – no other team in the conference out-rebounds its opponents by even half that margin.
“Rebounding was a big part of our loss,” said sophomore forward Ivan Peljusic of the squads’ previous meeting. “They just get the ball to (Michigan State point guard) Kalin Lucas and he gets the ball up the court.”
Lucas is excellent at finding the open man on the break for the easy bucket. The sophomore is the conference’s second leading distributor, dishing out 5.4 assists per game.
To allow themselves time to get back and set up the 1-3-1 defense, the Cats need to improve on their biggest weakness thus far – rebounding.
“Rebounds will be key tomorrow,” freshman forward John Shurna said. “But they’re a tremendous team so it’s going to be tough.”
The team has struggled mightily on the backboards in conference play and has surrendered almost 15 more rebounds per game than it has gathered in five Big Ten contests. To challenge the home team in East Lansing, the Cats must compete for every loose ball. This will force Michigan State to contend with the 1-3-1 defense that contained Purdue and Minnesota in consecutive games at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
But NU travels to face Michigan State, and must do something it hasn’t managed to do in conference tilts: play well on the road. Most teams have more difficulty on the road than they do at home, but the Cats seem to have an especially hard time as visitors.
NU has managed to beat Minnesota, go down to the wire against Purdue and stay within striking distance of Michigan State on its home court. On opponents’ home courts, however, the results have been significantly worse. NU was blown out at Wisconsin, and played poorly in a disappointing loss at Penn State.
“I think that we just have breakdowns as a team,” Thompson said. “Here we have our home court, and we have the fans cheering us on. Somehow on the road we’re going to have to find it within ourselves and try and cheer ourselves on and get each other hyped up and get our wins on the road.”
