On Thursday night Creighton closes the non-conference portion of the season (aside from the BracketBuster) with arguably the team’s biggest test of the season. The Northwestern Wildcats are coming to town with their 10-1 record in only their second true road game of the season.
Last year in Evanston, the Bluejays had problems scoring baskets and containing the Princeton offense. The Wildcats broke the game open in the second half and won going away. The return game is stacking up to be a good one, with both teams having aspirations of getting to the NCAA Tournament.
We turned to a Northwestern expert, Lorretta8 from the website Sippin’ On Purple, to get a view of the Wildcats. Here is what he had to say.
White & Blue Review: Northwestern has come out of the gates at 10-1, including winning the Charleston Classic. What were the expectations heading into the season? Are they doing better than expected?
Loretta8: I think NU has met expectations to this point, as they certainly haven’t had any bad losses yet that would cripple their NCAA chances. Unfortunately, the ugly loss to Baylor, where Baylor basically could have named the final score, has put a bit of a damper on NU’s hopes, but it’s still early in the season, so we’ll see.
WBR: John Shurna continues to be a great player for the Wildcats. How has his game evolved since last season?
Loretta8: Shurna was having a monster season last year (putting up numbers similar to what Doug McDermott has done so far) before spraining his ankle in NU’s final non-conference game. This year he’s healthy again and having another excellent season, leading the Big Ten in scoring so far. His game is perfectly tailored for NU’s Princeton offense; he excels at moving without the ball, is a lights-out three point shooter, and is adept at catching the ball in traffic and finishing at the rim after a backdoor cut.
Earlier this season he was attacking the basket more and getting to the line a lot, but he hasn’t done that as much the past few games.
WBR: Creighton struggled against Northwestern in last season’s matchup in Evanston. How does Northwestern handle playing on the road?
Loretta8: Well it’s hard to say as this will be NU’s first real road test of this season. The only other official road game was at Georgia Tech but that was in an NBA arena in front of about 500 people; not exactly a hostile environment. NU hasn’t done well on the road in recent years in Big Ten play, but it’s very tough to win on the road in the Big Ten.
WBR: Everyone talks about the Princeton offense and how tough it is. What makes it so tough?
Loretta8: Part of the reason is it provides a totally different look than what most teams are used to, but this NU team is particularly tough to defend because everyone who plays (besides the centers) is a dangerous three point shooter (the four other starters shoot 43%, 40%, 39%, and 38%). And when teams start coming out to guard three point shooters it opens up the middle for backdoor cuts.
Also, NU’s offense is usually efficient because the vast majority of their field goals are either threes or lay-ups, they probably take the lowest percentage of long twos of anyone in the nation. So that helps the efficiency stats.
WBR: Who has been a surprise for the Wildcats this season?
Loretta8: The biggest surprise has been junior walk-on guard Reggie Hearn, who only played in garbage time his first two seasons but has emerged as a starter this year. He’s a good three point shooter and has been a solid defense and energy guy as well. Drew Crawford has also emerged as scorer 1B behind Shurna; he’s really improved as a slasher this season and is definitely NU’s best one on one player.
WBR: What weaknesses could Creighton exploit that Northwestern has struggled with this season?
Loretta8: Center play has been a concern, as seniors Luka Mirkovic and Davide Curletti have mostly struggled against decent competition. Mirkovic has been a bit better lately, nearly getting a triple-double his last time out, but that was against Eastern Illinois so it needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
Northwestern also hasn’t been very good defensively this year, in fact that’s been a recurring problem for years in Evanston. I don’t see them having much luck slowing down Creighton’s high-powered attack.
WBR: This series has been beneficial for both teams. What kind of challenges does Northwestern have when it comes to scheduling?
Loretta8: I think the biggest problem has been an attitude of indifference from the coaching staff and athletic department, as they often haven’t made enough of an effort to get marquee opponents on the schedule, although adding Baylor to this year’s schedule was a step in the right direction. Most strong mid-major programs like Creighton would jump at the chance to play a home and home with a Big Ten team, even a historically weak one like Northwestern, but they haven’t reached out to enough of them. It seems like the policy is to play one strong mid-major home and home at a time (it was Butler before Creighton), and I’d like to see NU schedule two or three such teams per year, and not play so many games against the SWAC.
WBR: When it comes down to it at the end of the season and if both teams are on the bubble, could this game be the deciding factor?
Loretta8: It’s possible. I think this game is more important for Creighton since NU plays in a tougher conference and will have a lot more chances for quality wins during league play, but it’s still a big game for NU. I’m looking at this game as the start of Big Ten play for NU: the next 19 games are Creighton and then 18 Big Ten games, and if NU can go 10-9 or better that should be enough to finally get them into the NCAA tournament.
WBR: What is your final prediction? What will Northwestern have to do to steal a win at the CenturyLink Center?
Loretta8: It’s hard to see Northwestern being able to get enough stops to win this game. I think NU may gamble and play their extended 1-3-1 zone in hopes of forcing Creighton into turnovers, but I don’t expect it to be particularly effective. Creighton wins a shoot-out, 88 to 81.