Posts Tagged ‘Bill Carmody’
Men’s Hoops: Carmody confident in bench weapons
By Adam Fusfeld
Five minutes into Northwestern’s first opening game win since 2005, coach Bill Carmody made his first substitution of the season. Stuck in the midst of a sluggish 4-2 game, Carmody sent junior forward Jeff Ryan into the game to replace classmate Kevin Coble.
Ryan immediately stamped his mark on the game and recorded a blocked shot as well as a basket and the foul in his first few minutes of game action.
It was the energy the team needed to build an 18-point halftime lead and an 81-39 win over Central Arkansas on Sunday.
“That’s the job of a lot of guys off the bench,” Ryan said. “Just to come in, be a spark and have a lot of energy off the bench. I got myself in pretty good position on offense a few times and was able to get fouled and go to the line.”
The Wildcats (1-0) need to utilize this depth throughout the season, and Wednesday night when they host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (1-1), to continue the defensive tenacity the team displayed against the Bears.
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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.”
Men’s Hoops: Improved defense drives Cats to blowout victory
By Matt Forman
For the last seven practices, coach Bill Carmody preached one thing: defense.
After losing its exhibition season opener 69-62 to Robert Morris (Ill.) College, Carmody knew his team could not allow a team to shoot nearly 50 percent from the floor.
It paid off.
Northwestern (1-0) played suffocating defense against Central Arkansas (0-1) on Sunday, allowing only 25 percent of the Bears shots to fall en route to an 81-39 win Sunday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“Every day in practice, that’s our focus. Defense,” junior forward Jeff Ryan said. “All the coaches say it and all the players have to believe, defense is going to win us games.”
After Central Arkansas scored the first two points of the game, NU went on a 22-3 run to build a comfortable lead. As the Wildcats’ defense pressured, their offense came around.
“Your defense helps your offense so much,” Carmody said. “When you defend you can score and press and get more possessions. Things just seemed to be in sync.”
NU forced 23 turnovers and allowed just 11 field goals. The drastic turnaround defensively was a result of defenders keeping their body in front of their man.
“Crazy, right,” Carmody said with a chuckle. “Something simple as that makes a difference, it’s like making shots.”
Four Cats scored in double digits. Junior forward Kevin Coble led the Cats with 15 points and eight rebounds, while freshman Kyle Rowley, sophomore Michael Thompson and Ryan added 10 points apiece.
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TIP OFF: Big Changes at NU
Ready for basketball season yet? Northwestern open up its basketball season Friday when the women’s team visits Chicago State. The Men start Sunday afternoon against Central Arkansas.
Get ready for the season with The Daily’s Tip Off coverage.
MEN’S BASKETBALL: SMALL LINEUP GETS AN UPGRADE
By Adam Fusfeld
The Daily Northwestern
Though coach Bill Carmody is known for teaching players his complex offense, he, like many coaches before him, have not been able to teach size in recent years. The Wildcats did not have a player taller than 6-foot-8 last year after the graduation of 6-foot-10 center Vince Scott, leading to struggles in the physical Big Ten.
So he went out and recruited size.
Joining a squad that remains mostly intact from last season are five freshmen, four of whom are at least 6-foot-8 or taller, something the team did not even have last season. Highly-touted centers Kyle Rowley (7-foot) and Luka Mirkovic (6-foot-11) are two of the tallest players NU has had since Evan Eschmeyer (6-foot-11) graduated and was drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft in 1999. They figure to help reshape a team that struggled last year, especially in the post.
“It will move everyone to more of their traditional position where they should be playing,” said junior Kevin Coble, a forward who was forced to defend bigger players at times last year. “I was playing down low last year, and a lot of our guys were playing out of position. So this will move them to where they should be, and I think it will help us a lot.”
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