For the last four games, Northwestern has started without a center on the court. An increase in athleticism compensated for the lack of height, and the Wildcats are 3-1 in that stretch.
Wednesday will pose a steep challenge for NU as it travels to face Indiana. The Hoosiers (19-6, 7-6 Big Ten) feature freshman phenom Cody Zeller. The 6-foot-11-inch center leads the team in scoring, averaging 15.4 points per game. A bigger issue for the Cats may be his 6.4 rebounds per contest.
NU (15-9, 5-7) is the worst rebounding team in the conference, averaging just 30 boards per contest while giving up 35 per game. Purdue outrebounded the Cats 40-28 in Sunday’s loss, which included 15 offensive rebounds. Junior guard Reggie Hearn said after the game the lack of effort on the defensive end and on the glass hurt the Cats.
Even when NU was on its three-game winning streak, it struggled to prevent offensive rebounds. On Thursday, Iowa outrebounded NU 29-21 thanks to 10 offensive rebounds, while Nebraska pulled down nine offensive boards Feb. 2. Zeller ranks sixth in the Big Ten in offensive rebounds and the Cats have not fared well against the top two this season. Nebraska’s Brandon Ubel, ranked second, collected five offensive rebounds while Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger, ranked first, grabbed four offensive boards on Dec. 28.
A lot of the struggles on the boards occurred because of an injury to Luka Mirkovic. The senior center’s ankle injury limited NU’s depth inside and forced NU to play longer stretches with a smaller lineup.
Hearn said before the Nebraska game that NU is not necessarily known for its rebounding prowess. He said he tries to work on his defensive and rebounding game in order to help NU, but Hearn with his 6-foot-4-inch frame cannot match up to Zeller’s height.
Even when NU has started a true center in a game, big men have haunted NU. Sullinger went off for 17 points and 14 rebounds on 7-of-11 shooting, while Iowa’s Aaron White scored 17 points and 12 rebounds on 7-of-10 shooting. Meyers Leonard topped them all with 21 points and nine rebounds on 10-of-12 shooting Feb. 5, although NU beat Illinois by four points.
However, big men have not always posed a problem for the Cats. In NU’s upset over then-No. 6 Michigan State on Jan. 14, senior center Davide Curletti went off for a career-high 17 points while limiting Spartans big man Draymond Green to just 2 points inside the arc.
Coach Bill Carmody said he will adapt his lineup to what goes on in the game. He said the Cats will play Zeller as they normally do, and he will see if he needs to insert Curletti for more support.
“We’ve (started with a smaller lineup) a few games this year but started the last two that way,” Carmody said before the Iowa game. “Just because you start smaller doesn’t mean you stay that way. (Curletti is) still going to play; it’s just a feeling of how you get off in the beginning of the game.”
