{"id":30265,"date":"2016-02-17T14:28:04","date_gmt":"2016-02-17T20:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=30265"},"modified":"2016-02-18T09:59:47","modified_gmt":"2016-02-18T15:59:47","slug":"analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysis: Lack of depth leading to energy woes for Wildcats"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michelle R. Martinelli<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Northwestern women\u2019s basketball team has a big problem.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the fact that the Wildcats are on the verge of dipping below .500 for the season. It\u2019s not that they once were ranked as high as No. 12 for two weeks and are now nowhere to be seen. Not even that they\u2019re 3-11 in the Big Ten.<\/p>\n

ANALYSIS<\/div>\n

The Wildcats have a depth problem, which could be making it difficult to close out winnable games.\u00a0They recently lost three games in which they carried leads into the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Their core four \u2014 senior guard Maggie Lyon, junior forward Nia Coffey and junior guards Ashley Deary and Christen Inman \u2014 average at least 33 minutes per game, which doesn\u2019t leave much time for them to catch a break. Lyon and Inman get less than four minutes on the bench each game.
\n<\/p>\n

The next most active is freshman forward Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah \u2014 who secured a spot in the starting lineup four games into the Big Ten season \u2014 with 16.3 minutes, and nearly everyone else plays less than 10.<\/p>\n

By comparison, No. 6 Maryland \u2014 who topped Northwestern 79-70 Sunday \u2014 has six players averaging at least 20 minutes, and 10 players averaging more than 11, allowing for more individual rest and rotation.<\/p>\n

Getting most of their breaks during timeouts and in between quarters clearly isn\u2019t enough for the Wildcats, especially when they\u2019re in tight games or struggling to come back, like against the Terrapins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got down and were looking for scoring from people we know that are big-time scorers like Inman or Deary or Lyon,\u201d coach Joe McKeown said. \u201cSo it\u2019s hard to [take] them out when you\u2019re down.\u201d<\/p>\n

In large part because the team\u2019s core four are stretched so thinly, Northwestern is on a three-game losing streak. The team dropped a heartbreaking, double-overtime game to Minnesota, a back-and-forth race against the clock with Rutgers and was constantly playing catch up against the Terrapins, when Lyon and Inman played the entire 40 minutes.<\/p>\n

The Wildcats also have lost eight of their last nine games, but if they weren\u2019t always playing on empty by the end, their conference record might look significantly different.<\/p>\n

\"Coffey\"
Junior forward Nia Coffey (10) fight Ohio State’s Makayla Waterman (24) for a shot at the basket. The Wildcats upset the No. 5 Buckeyes 86-82 on Jan. 14 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. (Michelle R. Martinelli\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the first three quarters in those nine games, Northwestern was winning in four, tied in two and losing in three \u2014 by four points to Ohio State and by 12 and 10 to Top 10 Maryland. With a little imagination, the team easily could be 5-4 during that stretch instead of 1-8 and at .500 for its conference schedule.<\/p>\n

With fresh legs at the beginning of a game, the core four possess exceptional chemistry and can keep up with almost any opponent. But after 30-plus grueling minutes with the game on the line, that chemistry is outmatched by fatigue.<\/p>\n

Northwestern has ample talent on the bench \u2014 particularly sophomore guards Maya Jonas and Lydia Rohde and freshman guard Jordan Hankins \u2014 but it\u2019s mostly inexperienced underclassmen.<\/p>\n

Even if the Wildcats win their last four regular-season games, they\u2019ll be 18-12 overall, and their odds of earning a second-consecutive NCAA Tournament bid still would be slim.<\/p>\n

So why not cut their losses now and give those bench players some high-pressure game experience that would help them next season, when the roster will be nearly the same?<\/p>\n

As far as this year is concerned, the Wildcats\u2019 best hope might be sneaking away with at least one more win in the regular season \u2014 likely against either Penn State on Wednesday or Nebraska at the end of the month \u2014 and then figure out how to avoid being one-and-done in the Big Ten Tournament.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s difficult for any coach to give up hope before the season is over. But after falling so far short of high expectations, the team\u2019s priority now needs be the future.<\/p>\n

Michelle R. Martinelli is the Medill beat reporter for the Northwestern women’s basketball team.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo at top: Junior point guard Ashley Deary races down the court on a fast break after stealing the ball from Indiana’s Tyra Buss. The Wildcats lost to the Hoosiers 91-84 Jan. 24 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. (Michelle R. Martinelli\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michelle R. Martinelli The Northwestern women\u2019s basketball team has a big problem. It\u2019s not the fact that the Wildcats are on the verge of dipping below .500 for the season. It\u2019s not that they once were ranked as high as No. 12 for two weeks and are now nowhere to be seen. Not even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":30296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,585],"tags":[901,1442,643,137,641,640],"class_list":["post-30265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-winter-2016","tag-big-ten","tag-big-ten-tournament","tag-michelle-martinelli","tag-northwestern","tag-wildcats","tag-womens-basketball"],"yoast_head":"\nAnalysis: Lack of depth leading to energy woes for Wildcats - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Analysis: Lack of depth leading to energy woes for Wildcats - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Michelle R. Martinelli The Northwestern women\u2019s basketball team has a big problem. It\u2019s not the fact that the Wildcats are on the verge of dipping below .500 for the season. It\u2019s not that they once were ranked as high as No. 12 for two weeks and are now nowhere to be seen. Not even […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-17T20:28:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-02-18T15:59:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/DearyFastbreak2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"584\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"michellemartinelli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"michellemartinelli\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/\",\"name\":\"Analysis: Lack of depth leading to energy woes for Wildcats - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/DearyFastbreak2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-17T20:28:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-02-18T15:59:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/73b48d9c3e61f132b4ca4d96f0e381fb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/DearyFastbreak2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/DearyFastbreak2.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":584,\"caption\":\"DearyFastbreak2\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Analysis: Lack of depth leading to energy woes for Wildcats\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/73b48d9c3e61f132b4ca4d96f0e381fb\",\"name\":\"michellemartinelli\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9f029e87ffcd6868717f90bc6c4732b1551f3a214049001d20823c205b10bbc7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9f029e87ffcd6868717f90bc6c4732b1551f3a214049001d20823c205b10bbc7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"michellemartinelli\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/michellemartinelli\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Analysis: Lack of depth leading to energy woes for Wildcats - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Analysis: Lack of depth leading to energy woes for Wildcats - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Michelle R. Martinelli The Northwestern women\u2019s basketball team has a big problem. It\u2019s not the fact that the Wildcats are on the verge of dipping below .500 for the season. It\u2019s not that they once were ranked as high as No. 12 for two weeks and are now nowhere to be seen. Not even […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2016-02-17T20:28:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-02-18T15:59:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":584,"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/DearyFastbreak2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"michellemartinelli","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"michellemartinelli","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/","name":"Analysis: Lack of depth leading to energy woes for Wildcats - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/DearyFastbreak2.jpg","datePublished":"2016-02-17T20:28:04+00:00","dateModified":"2016-02-18T15:59:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/73b48d9c3e61f132b4ca4d96f0e381fb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/DearyFastbreak2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/DearyFastbreak2.jpg","width":1100,"height":584,"caption":"DearyFastbreak2"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/analysis-lack-of-depth-leading-to-energy-woes-for-wildcats\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Analysis: Lack of depth leading to energy woes for Wildcats"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/73b48d9c3e61f132b4ca4d96f0e381fb","name":"michellemartinelli","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9f029e87ffcd6868717f90bc6c4732b1551f3a214049001d20823c205b10bbc7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9f029e87ffcd6868717f90bc6c4732b1551f3a214049001d20823c205b10bbc7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"michellemartinelli"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/michellemartinelli\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}