The Wildcats have lower expectations now, but that doesn’t mean the season is over.
The battle for the Big Ten Tournament is in full effect.
Despite losing Brooks Barnhizer and Jalen Leach to injury, Northwestern has a chance to finish in the top 15 of the conference. Standing in the Cats’ way is a Nebraska squad that just lost its first game after winning four, two against ranked opponents (Illinois and Oregon) and two on the road (Oregon and Washington). The Cornhuskers did just drop one at home to Maryland, though, and could end up flirting with disaster if they continued losing.
Northwestern is 0-8 on the road, but 11-3 at home. This is a home game. Nebraska will be a tough challenge as it’s 4-5 on the road, but there’s something about the Welsh that has a haunting effect on opponents.
Here are three keys for the Wildcats as they take on the Cornhuskers:
Back to the basics
Even in darker situations, there will always be light. K.J. Windham was that light in Eugene. Northwestern has been without a true point guard this entire season, even including Leach who had to adjust his game to play at that position. When Leach went down with injury, it was next man up. Those two guys were Jordan Clayton and Windham. Clayton has been able to bring the ball up the floor and is solid at breaking full-court presses, but it’s Windham who finally put it all together. The flashes have been there throughout the season, but he may have been overthinking. Against Oregon, he just played basketball. It looked like he was playing pickup the way he was confident to take shots off the dribble and attack the rim. Yes, basketball requires thinking, drawing up and executing plays, and making shots, but it’s also about trusting your abilities. Windham let his talent take over and it showed.
Similarly, his first-year teammate Angelo Ciaravino has had stretches where it’s hard to keep him off the floor. He’s also had moments where it’s hard to put him on the court. With there needing to be more offense than just Nick Martinelli and Ty Berry, Ciaravino could try to think a little less and just go out there and hoop. And it’s not that these players aren’t thinking, it’s that they’re young and might be overthinking the little things. If they just go out there and play ball, who knows what the ceiling will be for these two first-years?
Don’t let “the others” beat you
Nebraska is led by Brice Williams. This season Williams is averaging over 19 points per game and shooting at close to 50-40-90. Juwan Gary is also a huge contributor for the Cornhuskers as he averages 13.5 points per game on about 40-80-30 splits. “The others” on Nebraska, while the shooting percentages may be solid, don’t see the same volume as Williams and Gary. Williams is likely going to get his 20 points and Gary will probably be in double digits as well. The key here for Northwestern is to not let someone else get hot and have a career day. Even though the ‘Cats lost to Oregon, they almost won because Windham got hot and had a career day. They beat USC because Justin Mullins got hot and had a career shooting day. When an “other” on the opposing team has a great game, it’s hard to win because they can come out of the blue, unlike star players. For NU, close out on three-pointers, don’t leave guys wide open in the paint and leading into my next point, don’t commit stupid fouls.
Fouls…
Everything related to the word “foul” has been a problem for Northwestern this season. Whether that’s normal free throw shooting, late-game free throw shooting or just committing fouls, it has all contributed to some of the losses on the Wildcats’ schedule. Against Oregon, Northwestern shot 5-for-10 from the foul line. 50% isn’t going to cut it, especially in this conference. To add insult to injury, the Ducks shot 25-for-28 in the same category. However, the ‘Cats only committed two more fouls than the Ducks. It was just the timing of the fouls that harmed NU. Yes, fouling can be unnecessary at times away from the basket, but Northwestern has struggled with committing fouls that stay on the floor versus fouls that give opponents shots. If the ‘Cats are going to foul (which they will because a team not fouling in an entire game is almost unheard of), then try to foul smarter. If you give the other team free throws, try to foul someone who isn’t as great of a shooter. There will still be shooting fouls, no question about that, but if Oregon can foul Northwestern 14 times and only have there be 10 free throws attempted by the Wildcats, it seems maybe too good to be true.