[NU Sports] An orange crusher

Thu Jan 5 09:07:20 CST 2012

Could have been the rims, but if NU had the "bad" rims the second half, how do you explain that Illinois had a much better first half shooting too?

I think it was Brandon Paul guarding Shurna and the double teams they threw at Shurna when he had the ball.  They were determined to take the ball out of his hands which they did.  He was 7-10 in the first half and 1-7 in the second.  Crawford and Sobo weren't able to pick up the slack when Shurna stopped scoring.  As an example down the stretch, Cobb had a sweet back door layup at 9:33 to get within three (43-46).  NU didn't score again from the floor until Marcotullio's three at 1:19 to pull within 4 (51-55).  During that time, Shurna was 0-4, Crawford was 0-3 and 1-2 from the line, Cobb was 0-2 and 1-2 from the line, Marcotullio was 0-1, Curletti was 1-2 from the line, and Sobo was 2-2 from the line.  The ONLY reason that NU was still in the game at that point was because they played great D.

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of Roy S. Lamberton
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 9:34 AM
To: 'Weinbaum, Willie'; nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] An orange crusher

Carmody said something about NU changing the baskets before last night's game....

He was "surprised" that happened, but he should have known, right? 

But the change could have been in the heads of the Cats - can't figure out how they could
lose the ability to shoot for most of the 2nd half.

rsl

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-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of
Weinbaum, Willie
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 8:51 AM
To: 'nwu-sports at tssi.com'
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] An orange crusher

I think Tom's analysis is right-on.  Would add that without any real offensive threat from
NU's centers, the Illinois big guy (who blocked the last shot by Crawford) and his
understudy could slough off and intimidate all of the other Cats...and that seemed to be
in the heads of all would-be NU helpers - - those mentioned by Tom, as well as Cobb,
Marcotulio and Hearn.  All showed some brief flashes of helping on offense, but none could
sustain it.  And there's no doubt the top NU scorers need the help.  The good news was the
improved defense and rebounding...but the woeful shooting from the floor and the line was
devastating.  

----- Original Message -----
From: Tom Maycock [mailto:tkmaycock at yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 08:41 AM
To: nwu-sports at tssi.com <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] An orange crusher

>Carmody looking like a day in the park. we need some passion from a coach,
>tough loss

I don't know, Carmody looked pretty fired up to me. He took the jacket off, had to loosen
a few buttons, and was his usual expressive self when someone (usually a center) did
something silly.

Really heartbreaking loss last night. The Cats were so fun to watch in the first half,
with a really aesthetically pleasing offensive game, and lots of joy and enthusiasm. The
Illini really stepped it up on D, and really took Shurna out of the game in the second
half, so you have to credit them for that effort. But the Cats were playing good D as
well, and all they needed was for a couple of others guys to make just a couple of shots,
but it didn't happen. And poor free throw shooting ultimately did them in. In addition to
a fairly poor percentage overall, they missed a few front ends of 1-and-1s, which really
hurts.

I think it really came down to the fact that Drew and Sobo both had really bad shooting
nights. If just one of those guys had been able sink even 2 or 3 of their open looks, the
Cats win.

That sure-thing dunk slipping out of Crawford's hands late in the game was sort of
emblematic of the whole night.

Tom

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