Following the Northwestern University Wildcats’ mens basketball team’s 94-66 loss to the University of Michigan Wolverines at Welsh Ryan Arena, on Jan. 3, Head Coach Bill Carmody said change is imminent.

The Wildcats have been known as a fast paced offense but after losing the conference opener at home in a blowout, Carmody has come to the realization that his team will no longer be successful with that type of offensive tempo. Northwestern was outscored 13-2 to begin the game.

“The last four [or] five years we’ve been going up and down the court scoring a lot,” he said. “We had a lot of drills were that’s what we did, shot the ball quickly. I thought we had the team to do that, but right now I don’t know that that’s the case.”

The No. 2 Wolverines took advantage of the Wildcats offensive deficiency and limited the Wildcats to 30 points in the first half. Northwestern also struggled on defense, which allowed Michigan to build a 21 point lead heading into the second half. Michigan’s guard Trey Burke continued his great play with an outstanding performance. He had a game high 23 points to go along with his five assists.

Through the first 14 games of the season, Burke’s 17 points and 7 assists a game are team highs.

“He’s a good player. That’s why everyone is talking about him being one of the front runners for player of the year,” said Dave Sobolewski. “Like coach said, he does a lot of things that makes his teammates better and there’s not one thing you can take away from him because he can do everything.”

Carmody went to a 1-3-1 zone to try and slow down the Wolverine’s offensive attack, but to no avail, Michigan continued to score at an efficient pace. They finished the game shooting nearly 60 percent. Burke continued to penetrate the Wildcats regardless of their defensive scheme.

Guard/Forward Drew Crawford and Guard Reggie Hearn did not play because of injuries. Crawford had season injury to repair a torn labrum on Dec. 20. Hearn is still nursing an ankle injury and has not practiced in two weeks, according to Carmody.

The Wildcats will try and bounce back in their first conference road game against the No. 13 University of Minnesota Gophers at 6 pm on Jan. 6.