Archive for the ‘Joe McKeown’ tag
Women’s Hoops: McKeown challenges point guards
By Danny Daly
The difference between the offense coach Joe McKeown has implemented this year and the one Northwestern ran before he arrived is night and day.
The Wildcats have made a lot of adjustments in a short period of time, from the type of plays to the sheer number of them. The transition has been hardest on the point guards, who have had to learn how to run the new sets as well as make sure everyone is on the same page.
In addition, McKeown is a former point guard himself and has coached enough good ones to know exactly what he wants from that position. Because of this, and the extra scrutiny that comes with playing the position, the point guards have faced an especially difficult challenge.
“I want them to be the coach on the court and I want them to control the flow of the game,” McKeown said. “It probably is the toughest position to play in basketball. They’ve been thrown into the fire this year, and I’m tough on them.”
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Women’s Hoops: NU missing leadership this season
By Danny Daly
Most teams, particularly ones as young as Northwestern’s, rely on their seniors to lead them out of tight spots.
Since veteran players have been in the program for four seasons, they know how to react in situations that freshmen might not be as familiar with. In many ways, seniors serve as assistant coaches out on the floor.
But that hierarchy is slightly inverted in the case of this Wildcats’ team due to a new coach and few seniors on the roster who are forced to deal with a losing record. The combination of these factors has made it harder for NU to finish off games, though the victory over Wisconsin suggests that the team is beginning to adjust and gives it a boost of confidence heading into Thursday’s game against Michigan State.
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Women’s Hoops: NU fights off North Dakota
Northwestern has improved under coach Joe McKeown, although the team’s record might not show it. When a program has struggled like the Wildcats have struggled, they will take a win anyway they can — and learn from that experience.
NU shot 63 percent and took a 14-point halftime lead, but needed two free throws from senior Ellen Jaeschke to hold off a late second-half rally for a 67-65 win over North Dakota on Tuesday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The Fighting Sioux (5-7) went on a 7-0 run after the Wildcats built a nine-point lead with 3:20 left in regulation to trail by two points with two minutes left. The two teams combined for three turnovers in the final two minutes before North Dakota tied the game on two free throws by Mallory Youngblut with 24 seconds left.
The Cats (4-8) worked the ball around hte perimeter before feeding Jaeschke in the post. The senior went up for a layup but was fouled with 4.5 seconds left. She made the free throws that ultimately sealed the game.
Sophomore center Amy Jaeschke finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds. But she shot just nine of 20 from the field. Her cousin, Ellen, added 10 points. Senior guard Erin Dickerson tied a career high 14 points.
NU continued to struggle to finish games and build off success from earlier in the game. The Cats shot just 26 percent in the second half.
Their usually stout defense, which has allowed 41 percent shooting this season, did not come through in this game. The Fighting Sioux shot more than 50 percent in both halves and 52 percent overall.
NU did win the battle on the boards 30-29, including 15 offensive rebounds. This enabled the team to take 10 more shots than North Dakota and keep pace as the shots failed to go down in the second half.
The Cats next play at Michigan on Sunday.
Women’s Hoops: Marquette’s star shines at end
By Danny Daly
Entering Tuesday night’s game, both Marquette and Northwestern had been led by offenses that featured one dominant player.
Amy Jaeschke, the Wildcats’ sophomore center, had averaged 16.3 points and 11.5 rebounds in NU’s first six games and topped the team in both categories by substantial margins. For the Golden Eagles, senior guard Krystal Ellis had scored 16.0 points per game in Marquette’s first seven contests, including 23 points in her last two outings. She also led the team with 1.86 steals per game.
So it is not hard to see why Marquette circled Jaeschke as the player they needed to contain to stop NU’s attack, and why the Cats did the same to Ellis. The key to the Golden Eagles’ 55-54 win was that Ellis turned it on when it counted, scoring her team’s last nine points to give Marquette the come-from-behind victory.
Jaeschke, on the other hand, did not take a shot from the field after sinking a jumper with 14:16 remaining in regulation.
“That’s a hard one to lose because we played so well,” NU coach Joe McKeown said. “Our biggest thing is not to beat ourselves right now, that’s what we got to avoid. We have to learn how to do that, make people have to play great to beat us.”
Women’s Hoops Final: Slipped through NU’s fingers
By Philip Rossman-Reich
Marquette had nearly completed a 14-point halftime comeback. Down by two, the Golden Eagles double teamed sophomore center Amy Jaeschke. Jaeschke skipped it to 3-point specialist Erin Dickerson wide open for a 3-pointer.
The ball squirted through her hands.
Marquette took advantage of the opportunity. Krystal Ellis tied the game at 54 with a pull up jumper along the baseline. Sophomore guard Meshia Reed missed a 3-pointer and fouled Ellis going for the rebound. Ellis completed the comeback with a free throw with 14 seconds left as Marquette came from behind for a 55-54 win at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Tuesday.
The Wildcats could not create any offense on their final possession and Dickerson made a 3-pointer after the buzzer sounded, sealing NU’s defeat.
Four Minutes Left: NU hoping to finish off the 40
Coach Joe McKeown has been preaching to his team to play 40 minutes ever since Northwestern lost a six point lead late to Kansas State a few weeks ago. The Wildcats will get their chance to follow their coach’s mantra tonight against Marquette.
NU held a 14-point halftime lead, but takes a tenuous 52-44 lead to the final four minutes.
Both teams have not helped themselves in the half.
Marquette can definitely close this gap as the team has crashed the offensive glass for second-chance opportunities and limited the turnovers that cause it so much problems in the first half. But the Golden Eagles have not been able to quite close the gap — turning the ball over or missing an open shot or committing a foul with a chance to really put a scare into the Cats.
NU to its credit, has taken all of Marquette’s runs in stride. The team has not let Marquette get enough momentum to really threaten the lead and have continued to attack the basket and get to the foul line. That has been the Cats saving grace as they have shot 27 percent from the floor in the half.
All they need to do is hold on to secure the upset win.
Women’s Hoops: McKeown earns first win in ugly game
By Danny Daly
It might not have been pretty, but Northwestern beat Houston Baptist 68-60 on Thursday night for its first victory of the season.
For the Wildcats, it was liberating to win one after starting the year with back-to-back tough losses.
“Coming out 0-2, you definitely want to get a win under your belt,” freshman forward Brittany Orban said. “It was sloppy and we all know we have a lot of things to work on. As Coach (Joe McKeown) told us in the locker room, there are harder practices to come and a lot more hustling to go.”
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Women’s Hoops: McKeown wants team to concentrate on positives
By Danny Daly
Few defeats are as painful as Northwestern’s 57-52 loss to Kansas State on Monday.
After dictating the pace of play and leading last year’s regular season Big 12 champions most of the way, NU broke down in the final four minutes and squandered a chance to notch a signature win less than a week into the season.
For a team that endured such a trying season a winter ago, it was especially hard to take.
“It hurts because we were so close,” said sophomore guard Meshia Reed, who finished the night with 14 points and three steals. “They’re a good team and we were right there, so that makes it a little worse.”
In a lot of ways, the players should be encouraged and excited to move forward, seeing how they are capable of causing trouble for an NCAA tournament team that returns four of its five starters. But even though the Kansas State game can be considered a moral victory of sorts, the harsh reality is that it still counts as a loss in the standings.
Three days after the emotionally charged Kansas State loss, the next challenge for the Cats is putting the disappointment behind them and trying to bounce back against Houston Baptist.
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Women’s Hoops: Learning to play 40 minutes
By Zach Buchanan
Northwestern coach Joe McKeown walked into the Welsh-Ryan Arena locker room after his team’s 57-52 loss to Kansas State on Monday night and wrote “40 minutes” on the whiteboard.
NU only played well for 36.
“I’m trying to turn around the culture of women’s basketball at Northwestern, and we have to learn how to play 40 minutes,” said McKeown, in his first season with the team. “That’s the challenge I put out every day.”
After trailing by six points with 4:15 remaining in the game, Kansas State went on a 13-2 run, sparked by key baskets from forward Marlies Gipson and point guard Shalee Lehning. Gipson scored a layup off a pass from Lehning to cut the NU’s lead to four. Lehning followed with a 3-pointer and a layup to put Kansas State up by three with 45 seconds on the clock.
“It just came down to Kansas State making a couple big plays at the end of the game and that was the difference,” said McKeown, whose team had held Lehning, one of the best point guards in the country, to five points before her outburst at the end of the game. She finished with 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting and seven assists.
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Women’s Hoops: McKeown brings in first round of recruits
New coach Joe McKeown signed two recruits to national letters of intent Monday, marking the beginning of his first recruits since becoming coach at Northwestern.
The Wildcats will add forwards Inga Orekhova and Dannielle Diamant next season.
“My staff did an outstanding job with our first recruiting class at Northwestern,” McKeown said. “We brought in student-athletes we think will have an impact on our program over the next four years.”
