Game Thread: Northwestern vs. Montana State

[mshelton33]

Northwestern (3-1) hosts Montana State (1-3) tonight at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The game is set for an 8 pm tip off and will air on BTN.

 

[EagerFan]

Under two minutes and the place is fairly empty.

 

[SmellyCat]

I feel...SAFER knowing Barnhizer is on the floor.

 

[EagerFan]

Good rotations on both ends. I think Matt can’t stop his guy on the drive, they may need little faster Luke to wear him out a bit first.

 

[SmellyCat]

Great start rebounding-wise. 6-2 NU, with four offensive boards already in the first five minutes.

Leach looking aggressive early too. Confidence through the roof. Keep it up!

 

[jensberg]

Great start rebounding-wise. 6-2 NU, with four offensive boards already in the first five minutes.

Leach looking aggressive early too. Confidence through the roof. Keep it up!

Wonder if it's time to move Ty out of the starting lineup.

 

[EagerFan]

Cats making some mistakes. Can’t get themselves open after the 12 minute time out.

 

[TheC]

Our offense is not good. We don't shoot well and Matt is a black hole out there. G

 

[jensberg]

Our offense is not good. We don't shoot well and Matt is a black hole out there. G

Martinelli coming back down to earth too with the length that Montana has already had a shot blocked twice

 

[wocka]

Shooting continues to be not good

 

[jensberg]

Martinelli coming back down to earth too with the length that Montana has already had a shot blocked twice

 

[SmellyCat]

Team (and arena) seem lethargic right now. Early advantage on the boards disappearing in last few minutes.

 

[DaCat]

Ty is still in a shooting funk. Glad to have Barney back.

 

[GatoLouco]

A lot of mistakes on defense. Losing screeners, messing up switches, etc. And that’s in front of our bench.

The rust seems to be coming off BB quickly.

 

[TheC]

Offense looks ugly, but not as ugly as that 22-23 team at the beginning of the year. Maybe shouldn't be surprising. It will take some time for this group to figure it out.

 

[SmellyCat]

So much for Barney playing only 10 minutes tonight. He's the best player on the floor and it's not even close. Brian Butch slurping him is getting embarrassing, but I'm glad someone notices.

Still, Cats have been really sloppy tonight, especially defensively.

 

[TheC]

Where the hell is our defense?

 

[Gatabowl]

Nicholson needs to be benched.

 

[jensberg]

Where the hell is our defense?

Hard to believe Montana state has lost three games already. They've got Great Heights, excellent athletes and are hitting three-point shots as well.

 

[TheC]

This is as bad as I've seen our D since Lowery got here

 

[Gatabowl]

This is as bad as I've seen our D since Lowery got here

It’s not just bad defense. They’re also slow and lazy. Playing with zero effort. They’ll be getting an earful at halftime.

 

[GatoLouco]

One team looked much looser than the other.

The ball just seemed to stick a lot for us. They were a lot more fluid.

Hoping for a different 2nd half.

 

[SmellyCat]

Offense looks ugly, but not as ugly as that 22-23 team at the beginning of the year. Maybe shouldn't be surprising. It will take some time for this group to figure it out.

Rock fight!

 

[TheC]

Our offense is all one on one play. Martinelli one night. Or Leach. Tonight it's Brooks. No ball movement. No cutting. Just one on one.

 

[wocka]

Bad first half stems from:
- Lack of intensity on defense
- Players other than Barnhizer are shooting 32%

 

[EagerFan]

It looks to me like Cats are already convinced they can’t win. They seems slow and dispirited. Letting the bobcats get away with play ground moves.

 

[freewillie07]

It would not be ideal to lose to KenPom #224 Montana State.

 

[jensberg]

Our offense is all one on one play. Martinelli one night. Or Leach. Tonight it's Brooks. No ball movement. No cutting. Just one on one.

Exactly, you're right about the one-on-one play. And even worse we can't shoot from three point range.

 

[jensberg]

It would not be ideal to lose to KenPom #224 Montana State.

Well if we keep playing like this we don't have even a dream of the tournament. The last few games have not been very tournament worthy to say the least

 

[SDakaGordie]

Our offense is all one on one play. Martinelli one night. Or Leach. Tonight it's Brooks. No ball movement. No cutting. Just one on one.

Berry had a nice open jumper off a floppy action, but few and far between.

 

[CappyNU]

I'm not quite sure what Nicholson is doing out there, he looks awful. The team is completely discombobulated on defense and Martinelli got murdered on that dunk off the inbounds play. This is...not great so far.

 

[Jonny2TheP]

Berry has had a rough start to the season. Obviously the shooting hasn’t been there, but his passing has been really sloppy. Gotta get him out of this funk - he plays a really important role on this team and has not played even close to what we need yet this year.

 

[NUCatswin]

can't lose this. Would be worse than Chicago State

 

[olshin]

Hard to believe Montana state has lost three games already. They've got Great Heights, excellent athletes and are hitting three-point shots as well.

I mean maybe that 1 point loss at Denver was to the Nuggets?

Absolutely brutal first half of basketball. The lack of energy and focus defensively was particulary upsetting for a team that needs a lot of ... energy and focus defensively to be successful.

 

[olshin]

can't lose this. Would be worse than Chicago State

Well ... no ... but it would really be bad. Something needs to happen to change the energy, because that was particularly devoid of it.

But let's be real, if Nicholson and Berry do this little on offense this year ...... it's going to be ugly.

 

[jensberg]

Well ... no ... but it would really be bad. Something needs to happen to change the energy, because that was particularly devoid of it.

But let's be real, if Nicholson and Berry do this little on offense this year ...... it's going to be ugly.

Yet another game with nothing from the Center position

 

[SmellyCat]

Berry has had a rough start to the season. Obviously the shooting hasn’t been there, but his passing has been really sloppy. Gotta get him out of this funk - he plays a really important role on this team and has not played even close to what we need yet this year.

When Berry makes a shot, I always think, "good for him, he really needs that" like he's a little kid who really really needs to score. I'd like to see him shooting more, but only if he's, you know, hitting more shots too.

 

[freewillie07]

Well ... no ... but it would really be bad. Something needs to happen to change the energy, because that was particularly devoid of it.

But let's be real, if Nicholson and Berry do this little on offense this year ...... it's going to be ugly.

Bench them.

Leach
Mullins
Barnhizer
Martinelli
Hunger

 

[SmellyCat]

I'm not too worried...yet, but the team needs to come out strong in the second half. This isn't a clearly better team getting its act together and imposing its will in a five-minute overtime. They need to show they're better in the next 20 minutes, because they certainly didn't in the first 20.

 

[CappyNU]

Meanwhile DePaul, who's had a solid start to their season, is only up by 2 on Eastern Illinois at the start of the second half.