It’s hard for statistics to capture exactly what junior forward Brittany Orban brings to the court.
“It’s the glue that she brings,” coach Joe McKeown said. “Diving on the court, out-rebounding people, making big baskets for us. She just brings an attitude, and it doesn’t matter if she scores 10 points or two points. She’s a big part of what we do.”
Although the numbers fail to display Orban’s full impact, they certainly hint at how important she is to Northwestern (14-6, 3-4 Big Ten). She’s averaging 11.8 points and 6.6 rebounds for the Wildcats.
Orban has been particularly dominant on the glass, where she leads NU in offensive rebounding. Her 65 offensive boards are nearly double that of her closest competition, senior center Amy Jaeschke, who ranks second on the team with 37.
Orban’s strong play helped NU get off to a 14-4 start this season, but she and her team have struggled of late.
The difficult stretch began in West Lafayette, Ind., where Orban recorded just one point and three rebounds in NU’s 54-43 loss to Purdue. To make matters worse, she injured her knee diving for a loose ball toward the end of the second half.
Four days later against Michigan, the junior didn’t look like her usual self. Orban played just 14 minutes in her team’s 76-67 setback against the Wolverines and was held scoreless with only one rebound.
“It was just a few days since the injury occurred,” Orban said. “There were probably some side effects from that, but I’m not going to give any excuses as to why I didn’t go out there and perform at my highest level.”
Orban’s rebounds were instrumental to earlier success.
Of the games in which Orban recorded at least four rebounds, the Cats are 14-2. They won only two of the six games in which she notched three or fewer.
Fortunately for Orban and the Cats, they got a rare respite from Big Ten play this week, with six open days separating their loss to Michigan and today’s contest in Minneapolis.
“We’ve gone so hard recently,” Orban said. “We got a few days off, which was great, gave our bodies time to rest. We have a lot of girls playing a lot of minutes. It’s pretty grueling on the body.”
According to McKeown, the time off has helped Orban.
“She’s practicing much better,” McKeown said. “A couple days off – it really helps. Hopefully against Minnesota, she’ll be back to her old self.”
Orban will need to regain her old form to help NU snap its two-game losing streak against a hungry Minnesota team. The Golden Gophers have lost seven straight, but four of those losses have come by six points or fewer.
“We’re trying to break out of this losing streak, and Minnesota has been close in every game they’ve played. They just haven’t pulled one out yet,” Orban said. “It’s almost a desperation factor now, where we have to go out there and get those wins.”
To win, the Cats will need to figure out some way to limit Kiara Buford, who scored 35 combined points in her two games against NU last year. The guard ranks eighth in Big Ten scoring this season, with 15.2 points per game.
Minneapolis hasn’t been kind to the Cats in the past. NU has lost eight straight games in the Barn, with its last win coming in January of 2000.
“We’re trying to beat teams we’ve never beat before,” senior guard Meshia Reed said. “We’re trying to put Northwestern back on the map. It’s a huge year for us. We have the players to get it done. It’s all about staying focused.”
It looked like the Cats might break that streak last year, when they took an 11-point lead into halftime before succumbing in the second half of a 73-65 loss to Minnesota.
“Many of the games last year, we led or were very close, and then we didn’t adjust in the second half and we ended up losing,” Reed said. “We don’t want to let that be the case this year.”
