Men’s Hoops: Rebounding a work in progress
With the addition of freshmen Kyle Rowley, John Shurna, Davide Curletti and Luka Mirkovic, Northwestern was expecting a big boost to its rebounding numbers. The Wildcats were last in the conference last year in rebounds and rebounding margin — getting outrebounded by a margin of nearly 10 rebounds per game.
This year, that might not be the case. After a 17 offensive rebound performance in an exhibition game against Robert Morris (Ill.) College last week, NU did not have the gaudy rebounding numbers some might have expected against a smaller Central Arkansas team on Sunday.
But the Cats won the rebounding battle for the first time since a loss at Iowa on Feb. 19.
“To outrebound a team for us is good,” junior forward Kevin Coble said. “It’s sign of progress after last season, finishing minus-10. That was a good step for us.”
Coble led NU with eight rebounds. He has led the team in rebounding the past two seasons. Coach Bill Carmody hopes the addition of the big freshmen will take some of the rebounding pressure off of Coble.
That is still a work in progress.
“We shot the ball well, so you aren’t going to get too many offensive rebounds,” Carmody said. “We just continually work at it, boxing out and going after the ball, and we’ll get better. Even Rowley when he went in the last five minutes there, he came in with some renewed vigor. I think our rebounding will get better and better.”
Rowley finished with four boards. Shurna, after collecting 10 boards in a double double effort in the exhibition game, did not have a rebound in his first official college game.
Rebounding is still an emphasis for this team as it moves forward, especially considering its history. Adding the big bodies has helped, but the rebounding war is still a matter of desire. The Cats gave up 13 offensive rebounds to Central Arkansas, despite holding a 29-27 overall rebounding edge.
“Once it’s up there, you got to go get it,” Carmody said. “We had a couple rebounds with some authority. We’re bigger than Central Arkansas. But we have been outrebounded by smaller teams in the past. I think we have been trying to emphasize that.”
WILLIAMS PROVIDES A SPARK
At the beginning of the second half in Sunday’s game, Central Arkansas’ top player finally found a way through NU’s top defense.
Marcus Pillow, who averaged 11.9 points per game, but his two 3-pointers at the beginning of the second half helped the Bears close an 18-point halftime lead to 13 after about three minutes. Carmody needed someone to bring the defense back under control and stop them.
In comes guard Sterling Williams.
Williams struggled as a start last season even though he averaged a career-high 5.3 points per game. He started 28 games, but failed to make any impact on the stat book. But his defensive effort early in the second half settled a young team down and enabled them to pull away and earn a victory.
“I thought Sterling Williams was very good at the top,” Carmody said. “He stopped all the penetration.”
Williams had only two points in his 20 minutes, but he made a clear impact on the defensive end. The Cats held the Bears to 26.9 percent shooting in the second half and 25 percent overall in the game.
AT THE BUZZER
Jeff Ryan provided a spark for NU coming off the bench. He missed his first layup of the game, but proceeded to make an impact on the game with some aggressive plays to the hoop. He finished 2-for-4 from the field, but ended up with 10 points in 17 minutes and went to the line seven times. Ryan, who missed the last eight games of the season with an injury, has not scored more than 10 points in a game since he scored 10 against Howard last season. He scored a career high 20 points Nov. 20, 2007 against Benedictine last year. …
The 42-point winning margin was the biggest margin of victory for NU since a 51-point win over University of Chicago on Nov. 27, 1993. The 39 points was also the fewest points scored by the Bears since a 54-34 loss to Drury on Jan. 30, 1988. The Bears also scored 40 points in a 27-point loss at Kentucky last season.
