Cats blown out by Michigan

EVANSTON--No one figured that Wednesday's matchup against Michigan at Welsh-Ryan Arena would be easy, but no one knew that the 79-54 loss would be that hard to watch.

The Wolverines shook off a slow start to dominate Northwestern and hand the overmatched Wildcats their eighth straight loss.

“I thought we had tired legs tonight from the overtime loss [at Rutgers] and traveling from the East coast,” said head coach Chris Collins, trying to explain his team's lack of energy in the loss.

Jared Jones led the Wildcats with a career-high 12 points, to go along with four rebounds, while Miller Kopp had 10.

Eli Brooks and Isaiah Livers paced the Wolverines with 18 and 17 points, respectively.

Michigan started the game an ice cold 0-for-11 from the field. But Northwestern was not able to capitalize, scoring just four points during that stretch, so when Michigan hit its first basket at the 14:15 mark of the first half, they trailed just 4-3.

Both offenses continued to struggle, with UM capitalizing with two straight three-pointers resulting from NU defensive miscommunications. The Cats trailed only 20-18 with 8:09 left in the half.

But then NU's offense cratered as the Wolverines outscored Northwestern 18-5 the rest of the way to take a 38-23 lead at the end of the half. NU went 8 of 26 from the field with Pat Spencer’s 8 points the lone bright spot.

Things went from bad to worse for the Cats in the second half. Michigan’s lead jumped from 15 to 23 just four minutes into the half.

Northwestern was able to muster a small run to bring it to within 12, 58-46 with seven minutes left in the game. But Michigan turned on the pressure and pushed the lead to 27 as Tino Malnati even made an appearance for the Wildcats.

Here are some takeaways from the loss that leaves Northwestern with a record of 6-17 overall and 1-12 in the Big Ten:

NU lacked fight, Jared Jones did not: While many Wildcats suffered from lack of energy, Jones showed he was willing to compete until the last whistle.

The freshman's elite mobility for a big man was evident in his ability to hedge the ball on a screen, then quickly return to his man rolling to the basket. He also is coming into his own offensively, showing the ability to space the floor and use his speed to attack the rim from the high post.

Jones topped his previous career high of 11 he scored against Rutgers in the last game.

Collins had high praise for Jones saying, “Jared is really coming on for us and it's been fun to see. When you come to this level and there's new terminology and physicality, some guys play a little paralyzed. You see for Jared, things are starting to slow down.”

Kopp couldn’t adjust to Michigan's defensive scheme: During Big Ten play, Kopp has cemented himself as NU’s top offensive weapon. He accomplishes this mostly by finding open catch-and-shoot attempts in transition or from off ball screens. Michigan knew this and decided to switch on every off ball screen involving Kopp.

Said Michigan head coach Juwan Howard, “We focused on him, we made sure that every time he touched the ball there was a hand in his face.”

This resulted in Kopp going 3-for-12 from the floor for just 10 points, most of which came when the game was no longer in doubt.

This is a similar tactic that has been used against Kopp late in many of Northwestern’s tough recent defeats. Unless he becomes more of a scorer off the dribble, he will continue to struggle as teams increasingly learn to adjust.

Boo Buie struggled shooting: With Kopp being negated by Michigan’s defensive scheme, NU was looking for another source of offense to rely on. Buie, one of the few players on the team who has shown to be able to take over a game, tried to do just that but was unsuccessful.

Buie struggled from the field, going 1-9, including 0-for-5 on three-pointers, for 6 points. He often had to take difficult shots late in the shot clock as the offense failed to create open looks for anyone.

For Buie to find success again, he is going to need to find his rhythm within the offense. We all know what he is capable of when he does.