there was just no hardness, or intensity

It was Bill Carmody's 100th game on the NU sidelines, but nothing seemed to be able to get his Wildcats going against Michigan Wednesday Night. Jitim Young scores 20, but Michigan's Lester Abram counters with 27 in the lopsided loss...

The NU Wildcats just couldn't match the "lights out shooting" by the Wolverines --

led by Lester Abram, who only missed one shot all night and that from beyond the arc.  As a team, Michigan shot 76% [16-21] from the field in the first half , 55% [5 of 9] from outside the arc, and just under 55% 12 of 22] in the 2nd half. They also only missed 2 freethrows all night to finish with 78 points.

Meanwhile, the Cats could only manage 30% [7 of 23] from the field in the 2nd half and 40% [10 of 25 ] in the first for barely a 35% [17 for 48] average.

The Wildcats were dismal from beyond the arc - 7 of 23 for the game.

Even with a couple of 2nd half runs [including a 15-8 run with 12 minutes remaining] --and playing Michigan virtually even in the 2nd half --  It seemed that NU still just didn't have any answers Wednesday...

Every shot they took they seemed to make ... its been our trouble the whole year trying to stop guys ... and when we haven't been able to, teams just shoot the ball too well against us .

Tonight I just thought our back court, sophomore back court were just letting guys penetrate and there was just no hardness, or intensity there and just opened too many things up. It was very very comfortable passing the ball around and whoever had it just doing whatever they wanted to do.

Did the coach expect more intensity, given that this was the conference opener?

Yeah, I just didn't think -- I thoght we'd get shots against Michigan and we would make 'em or miss 'em and we'd have some pretty good looks, but Defense -- it was just horrible.

Early on, it seemed the Cats got some decent looks, but...

I don't think we were settling for quick shots,  they kind of played some zone and mixed it up a little bit, which we expected - we've geen getting that all year, but we were 3 for 13 in the first half [from the arc] people have said that's too many 3s but if you don't have an inside presence, what are you going to do?

I don't know, T.J. [Parker] made one at the end there, I don't think Mo made one the whole night [he was 0-4] and Evan was missing [2 of 7] , Jitim hit a couple of 3s [2 of 3] but outside of that, I didn't see too much.

I guess Vedran did [2 of 3] but it was over by then.

Michigan played good offense, but they also played good defense, with their height and speed....

You're right, it looks liked an open shot going in the corner  - Evan looked open a few times but by the time he releases it that hand is contesting the shot pretty well - that's right

True Freshman Vince Scott got the start at Center tonight [he scored 4 points with 4 rebounds and 1 block] - with the hope that Davor Duvancic would find inspiration coming off the bench. Duvancic did shoot 2 of 3 scoring 4 points and 1 rebound, but  even Ivan Tolic played more minutes than DD.

I really didn't hope for too much from Vince because he's a Freshman and if he can just hang in there -- defend a little bit, block a few shots -- then some of the other guys have to do it. He's a freshman and he has to come along. If he can hold his own that would be OK, but the other guys have to come through, not "the kid."

Any Positives from the game?

In conference play, and all across the country , you got to go to the next thing and work and you can be disappointed, but in two hours you have to start thinking about the next one and get going.

What about the play of Jitim Young [20 points 7 rebounds]?

He was terrific in the first half, and in the second half he missed some of those, but he was going in there and I've said a lot about that kid and its all true and you see it game in and game out.

The Cats did have 18 rebounds in the game, 11 on defense, which is even more interesting since Michigan hit 65% of their shots. The Wolves had 31 boards in the game.

Jitim Young finished with 20 points, including 8 of 9 free throws. Vedran Vukusic only scored 10 with 3 boards, and Evan Seacat finished the game with 8. T.J. Parker scored 7, and Duvancic and Scott scored 4 each, Ivan Tolic had 1 point.

One more interesting note - the Cats shot all but one of their 23 - 3 point shots from one side of the basket. The shot they took from the other side scored 3.

Next up are the Hawkeyes on the road Saturday Afternoon.

More on that game later....

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[Bill Carmody's Post Game comments in italics are taken from the WGN Post Game Show with Dave Eanet & David Hildebrand, and may have been edited for clarity]

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