Jan. 24, 2003

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EVANSTON, Ill. - After one possession in the second half of last Saturday's game at Northwestern, the Wildcats boasted a 10-point lead (42-32) over a Michigan team that had come to Evanston with a 10-game winning streak.

Welsh-Ryan Arena was in a frenzy, thanks to Jitim Young's thunderous alley-oop slam dunk off a T.J. Parker pass. Add in a Wolverine foul, and Young was at the line to add to the advantage.

Young missed the free throw; coincidentally, NU's momentum slipped quickly away after that. Michigan scored seven unanswered points before a minute had passed to make the score 42-39, and the Wolverines rode that wave straight to a seven-point win.

NU is 27-5 in the Bill Carmody era when leading at halftime. In addition, the eight-point halftime lead the 'Cats lost was one shy of their worst blown advantage in the Carmody era (on Jan. 27, 2001, a 39-30 halftime lead over Michigan became a 72-65 loss). Simply put: NU teams are not supposed to lose games like they did last Saturday.

Are the Wildcats suffering a crisis of confidence? A veteran lineup has been right there in three of its first four Big Ten games, but have no wins to show for it.

"We have not played a full 40 minutes too many times this year, and that does not please me," said Carmody. "We ran into a problem with finishing teams off during non-conference play, and now it is even tougher being in the Big Ten. But we need to find a way to do it."

GAME 16 -- Northwestern (8-7, 0-4) vs. Minnesota (9-6, 1-3)
Date/Time: Saturday, Jan. 25, 2003/7 p.m. CST
Site: Williams Arena (Minneapolis)
Capacity: 14,625
Television: ESPN Plus (Jim Barbar, PBP; Jim Dutcher, analyst)
(will be broadcast on WCIU in Chicago)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Dave Eanet, PBP)
(also on wgnradio.com)