Janning and Northeastern Miss Opportunity
by Jay Pearlman
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – It’s going to happen, certainly. A good and improving Northeastern team had yet another opportunity for a program-changing win last night, an opportunity as good as any that program has had since Bill Coen took over as head coach two years ago.
There they were on the floor at two-thirds empty Crisler Arena in the regional final of the 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, having defeated IUPUI the previous evening, facing a John Beilien-coached Michigan team that had beaten Division II Michigan Tech but is nowhere near ready to complete in the Big Ten. Even with future NBA player Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims on the floor for the Wolverines, Northeastern appeared to be the more athletic, more physical team. Alas, poor shooting by the Huskies all night long, and uninspired play to start the second half, resulted in a 76-56 Michigan win, and an opportunity lost.
In truth, the Huskies seemed to control the game initially in every aspect but score, nearly doubling the Wolverines on the boards early (13-7) and getting lots of open shots against UM’s (and formerly West Virginia’s) trapping and then slowing half-court 1-3-1 defense. The only thing Northeastern couldn’t do in the first half was shoot, and with long-range star Matt Janning 1-7 before intermission (0-5 from behind the arc), Chaisson Allen 1-4, Eugene Spates 2-7, and Nkem Ojougboh reluctant to shoot after hitting the side of the backboard from medium range (0-2). 29 percent first-half shooting left Northeastern just six-points down at the half, 29-23.
When this writer visited with CAA Associate Commissioner Ron Bertovich at halftime, both of us acknowledged the woeful shooting, took umbrage in NU’s physical superiority, and assumed Janning & Co. would balance the scales from the floor in the second half. Well, whatever Ron and I thought at halftime, and whatever Coen told his players in the locker room, after returning from intermission the Northeastern team showed neither a recognition that they were Michigan’s equal, nor the toughness required to beat even an undermanned Big Ten team in its own building.
Behind Harris, both scoring and setting up Sims to score inside, and with precious little resistance from Northeastern, Michigan gradually extended its lead. And when halfway through the second half Northeastern was forced to implement a three-quarter court trap to try to catch up, well, Michigan turned that trap into a layup drill, widening its lead to 20. With Janning hardly contributing until after the issue was decided (most of his 14 were scored much too late to help), Northeastern was out of the game by the under-eight media timeout.
Harris finished with 26 points, 17 in the second half, on 6-9 shooting, 10 boards and eight assists.
Having attended over 50 Northeastern games the last two years, watched their improvement, and predicted a first-place finish in this year’s Colonial, I was surprised both by the poor shooting throughout and by the soft second half. That surprise is evidenced by a halftime e-mail to my editor, predicting a strong second half (particularly for Janning) and a Northeastern victory, and inquiring about coverage of NU’s next round games at Madison Square Garden. Alas, it is the Wolverines rather than the Huskies who will be in New York next week to face UCLA.
On the positive side of the ledger, Northeastern received strong play from junior center Manny Adako, who scored easily on the inside, and would have exceeded his 16 points (on 7-11 shooting, along with six boards) if given the ball more. The combination of Nkem Ojougbou and Vinny Lima will surely rebound better at power forward (just 1 and 3 rebounds this night, respectively), and perhaps score. And the starting backcourt many of us are so high on will shoot and play better than they did last night, and undersized back-up guard Baptiste Bataille continued to provide the solid floor game shown in conference play last year.
The biggest negative remains the three spot. With Annandale freshman Erik Etherly not yet ready to help, Eugene Spates has wrestled the starting role from fellow senior Chris Alvarez, with the coaching staff still hopeful that Spates will provide more than the streaky – and often conscienceless – long-range shooting of the last two years. Given the task of guarding Manny Harris for much of last night’s game, Spates began well enough, but his focus often waned when guarding Harris off-the-ball deep into the shot clock and late in the game. While not all of Harris’ production was against Spates (lots in the second half was against Northeastern’s trap), certainly some of Harris’ near-triple double must be attributed to Spates’ defense. And the match-up was even worse for Northeastern with Alvarez in the game, and Chris showed the ability to score neither from mid-range nor under the basket.
With their usual demanding non-conference schedule, Northeastern won’t have long to wait until their next major conference foe, as they visit Providence for another potentially winnable game on Saturday night. The Huskies will have to shoot better and play harder if they expect to win in Providence, both of which they should be entirely capable of doing. So they have yet another opportunity for a program-changing win come Saturday night!
CAA news and notes
Nine of the remaining eleven conference teams open this weekend, with William & Mary at Penn State, Georgia State against Bowling Green in Minneapolis, Wilmington hosting Appalachian State, Towson hosting Navy, and Hofstra facing Clemson in Charleston on Friday, George Mason visiting Vermont on Saturday, and Delaware hosting Rutgers, VCU facing The Citadel in Cancun, and ODU visiting Charlotte on Sunday.
