John Shurna can finally smile.
Three days after a dismal 2-for-10 performance at Michigan State and one day after what coach Bill Carmody called his “worst practice of the year,” Shurna shot, spun and smiled his way to 22 first-half points in Northwestern’s 74-60 handling of Michigan.
“(Shurna) hasn’t been smiling for three days. That’s very rare,” Carmody said. “He should be happy, he played well.”
Almost one month after injuring his left ankle against Mount St. Mary’s, Shurna appeared to be back to the playing level that won him two Big Ten Player of the Week awards. He led all scorers with 24 points against Indiana and then dropped 16 points at Iowa. But in East Lansing, Mich., on Saturday Shurna registered one of his worst performances of the year, recording a season-low six points.
Shurna put any doubts to rest Tuesday. The junior forward finished two rebounds shy of a double-double, notching 24 points and eight boards.
“I told him, ‘Your foot might be getting incrementally better, but you’ve got to play with it,” Carmody said. “‘And if you’re going to play with it, then can you play better than you’ve been playing with it?’ He came through tonight, no doubt about that.”
Michigan (11-8, 1-5 Big Ten), who came into the game with a conference-leading 433 attempts from beyond the arc, kept pace with NU (12-5, 3-4) early, tallying four treys in the opening eight minutes. Despite the Cats’ efforts to shake the Wolverines, Michigan hung around until Shurna found his stroke. After that it was the Shurna Show.
With 7:28 left in the first half, Shurna spun past Michigan guard Evan Smotrycz in the paint and found himself under the basket for an easy layup. Over the next two-and-a-half minutes, Shurna scorched Michigan, nailing two threes, a 15-footer from the left corner and a pair of free throws.
“Coach made it an emphasis to push the ball up the court,” Shurna said. “That’s where I made a couple of those threes, pushing the ball up the court.”
Shurna’s 12-point scoring spree turned NU’s five-point advantage into a 13-point lead.
“We kind of lost him in transition,” Michigan guard Stu Douglass said. “He just picked his spots, stayed poised and hit a lot of shots.”
After 14 lead changes in its game against Michigan State, NU led the whole way Tuesday. The Wolverines’ smallest deficit in the second stanza was 11.
“They just run some of their stuff to perfection,” Douglass said. “It doesn’t matter if you know what’s coming. They knocked down a lot of tough shots tonight.”
The Cats, who dropped their first three Big Ten games, are 3-1 in their last four conference contests. In those three wins, NU dominated Indiana, Iowa and Michigan, winning by an average of 15 points.
Three of NU’s next four Big Ten games are at home, and they come against some of the conference’s top competition in No. 17 Wisconsin, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 22 Illinois. With a 1-4 road record in Big Ten play, Carmody and the Cats know how crucial it is to win at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“You have to win at home,” Carmody said. “You must win at home in this conference.”
