No one on Northwestern has been in this position before. The Wildcats are 16-11, sitting in seventh place in the Big Ten and jockeying for a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament.While NU is having its best season in the past decade, it is also benefiting from an unusual season in the Big Ten.
“It’s kind of a bizarre year,” coach Joe McKeown said. “On a given night, everybody can beat everybody.”
Last year four teams had at least 14 conference wins. With two Big Ten matchups remaining for most teams in 2010, only two squads have reached 10 victories.
“It’s the way programs work,” junior center Amy Jaeschke said. “They go through their ups and downs. This particular year everybody is meeting at this one point where everybody is pretty even.”
The razor-thin margin separating NU and the other mid-level Big Ten squads has become evident in the Cats’ schedule: Eleven of the Cats’ 16 conference contests have been decided by 10 points or fewer. With its 7-9 Big Ten record, NU is two games out of third place and one game ahead of 10th place.
“There are one or two teams that have pulled away,” senior forward Kristin Cartwright said. “But when you look further down the list, everyone is so jumbled with their wins and losses that these next two games are so critical for everyone.”
The Cats’ opponent tonight, No. 10 Ohio State, is one of those teams that has separated itself. Led by junior center Jantel Lavender, the two-time Big Ten Player of the Year, the Buckeyes have already clinched the Big Ten Title and the top spot in March’s conference tournament. Lavender guided Ohio State past NU in December, taking a game-high 16 shots and pouring in 14 points.
“When (Lavender) gets the ball she’s going to score,” Jaeschke said. “So a lot of our defense is about not letting her catch the ball on the blocks.”
Still the Cats may have the momentum going into the game. NU is riding a season-high two-game conference winning streak, while Ohio State is coming off a heartbreaking overtime loss on Sunday.
“It’s huge,” Jaeschke said of the Cats’ recent surge. “Playing against Ohio State, we’ve got to go into the game with a lot of confidence.”
NU has been forced to go with smaller lineups in the past, but McKeown said the Cats’ size should help them against the Buckeyes, one of the biggest teams in the Big Ten.
“A lot of our league is matchups and style of play,” he said. “This year we have more size, more experience, everybody’s a year better.”
Tonight’s contest pits McKeown against a mentor and a friend in Ohio State coach Jim Foster. McKeown first faced Foster when McKeown was in high school and Foster was an opposing prep coach in Philadelphia. The former St. Joseph’s and Vanderbilt coach has racked up 711 wins, four trips to the Elite Eight and one Final Four appearance.
“He’s somebody that sees the big picture of college athletics-there’s a lot more to him than just being a winning basketball coach,” McKeown said. “But I want to beat him.”[email protected]
