Prior to yesterday’s game in Iowa City, head coach Joe McKeown had won just one time at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in his thirteen seasons at Northwestern. Facing a Hawkeye team with four starters standing at 6-feet or taller, McKeown would need a gutsy performance from his team without starting center Courtney Shaw in order to reverse his woes against the Hawkeyes.
As McKeown said after the game, to “win on the road in our league, you [have] to have some toughness.” While NU’s ability to overcome adversity last night surely exhibited toughness, the ‘Cats struggled to exhibit that same trait in the paint.