After surviving a brief home scare from the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Bo Ryan and the Wisconsin men’s basketball team (15-3, 6-1) now hit the road to take on Bill Carmody’s Northwestern Wildcats in Evanston, Ill Saturday.
The Badgers have reeled off four consecutive victories, and have won seven of their last eight contests. Last week against Ohio State they picked up their first conference road win; they will look to earn their second against Northwestern.
The Wildcats have not enjoyed similar success as of late. Carmody’s squad is fresh off a 72-64 defeat at the hands of Ohio State. After shocking Illinois 70-60 on Jan. 14, Northwestern proceeded to lose four of their next five, managing only a win over last place Minnesota.
The Wildcats employ the Princeton-style offense that Carmody brought with him from the Tigers when he took over the Northwestern reigns in 2000. He served as head coach at Princeton from 1996 to 2000, and before that was an assistant under the legendary Pete Carril from 1982 to 1996.
The key to the Wildcats’ success is senior guard Jitim Young. What Devin Harris is to Wisconsin, Young is to Northwestern. The 6-foot-2 Chicago native has started every game in his collegiate career, and this season is leading the Wildcats in scoring at 18.2 points per game, and rebounding; he pulls down an average of 6.3 boards per contest.
He ranks among the conference’s elite in 2003-04 — currently fourth in the league in scoring, eighth in rebounding and ranking seventh in field goal percentage.
Sophomore forward Vedran Vukusic has emerged as the Wildcats’ no. 2 scoring option this season, averaging 14.6 points per game. One of three natives of Split, Croatia on the Northwestern roster, Vukusic also gives Young some aid on the glass, pitching in 4.1 rebounds to go along with his scoring.
The trigger man for the Wildcat attack is sophomore point guard T.J. Parker, younger brother of the San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker. Parker’s scoring numbers have fallen off in his second year in Evanston, as the Frenchman’s points per game average has dropped from 11.4 a year ago to 8.8 this season.
Another foreigner, Montreal-born Mohamed Hachad rounds out the talented backcourt. Last year as a freshman Hachad averaged just 4.3 points per game. In 2003-04 he has upped that number to 8.1.
Ivan Tolic starts up front, but contributes very little to the Wildcat cause. Off the bench, Carmody looks to Evan Seacat, Davor Duvancic and Vince Scott for a boost.
