If Mirkovic can continue give Wildcats what he did against Michigan, they can make the NCAA tournament.
Luka Mirkovic banked home a free throw earlier this season. And then against North Florida, he drained a 3-pointer and followed it up with an airball from behind the arc.
Mirkovic has been all over the map, fitting for a guy who left Serbia to spend his final year of high school at La Lumiere, a Catholic boarding school in LaPorte, Ind.
But if Mirkovic can give Northwestern what he did Tuesday night against Michigan, the Wildcats (15-7, 4-6 Big Ten) will land on the kosher side of the NCAA tournament bubble.
Mirkovic scored 12 points on 6 of 10 shooting and looked good enough dishing out four assists that Wolverines coach John Beilein called him a "brilliant passer."
The 6-foot-11 center ranks seventh in the Big Ten with 7.2 rebounds per game in league play but grabbed only one last Saturday at Michigan State. Foul trouble, the result of posting up too aggressively, limited him to a mostly invisible 19 minutes.
"He has been working hard at getting deep enough (down low) to be a threat," Wildcats coach Bill Carmody said. "The other night at Michigan State, he was working a little too hard.
"But earlier in the season it was my fault. He was getting the ball 10 feet from the basket."
Mirkovic and fellow giant Kyle Rowley are both sophomores, and last year the NU coaches debated which player to start. Rowley got the call 28 times, logging 13.3 minutes per game. Mirkovic started just twice, averaging 18.5.
This year, it's no contest. Mirkovic routinely plays 30-plus minutes and has started 18 of 22 games.
Perhaps he wished he hadn't gotten the call during a two-game stretch to start conference play. Illinois' Mike Tisdale burned him for 31 points in Champaign and then Mirkovic missed 7 of 9 from the field at Michigan State, plus all four free throw attempts.
"To be honest, I don't know what was wrong," he said. "I stayed with it. I didn't want to quit. It's not the way I do things. I kept working, staying after practice and coming in for workouts. My hard work finally is paying off."
Mirkovic had one of his best games last season (eight points, seven rebounds) in NU's victory at Indiana. The teams meet again Sunday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
"He's a little stubborn, which makes him good," Carmody said. "He knows he's a good player, and he has accepted some accountability for how he's playing; it's not someone else's fault."
Luka Mirkovic banked home a free throw earlier this season. And then against North Florida, he drained a 3-pointer and followed it up with an airball from behind the arc.
Mirkovic has been all over the map, fitting for a guy who left Serbia to spend his final year of high school at La Lumiere, a Catholic boarding school in LaPorte, Ind.
But if Mirkovic can give Northwestern what he did Tuesday night against Michigan, the Wildcats (15-7, 4-6 Big Ten) will land on the kosher side of the NCAA tournament bubble.
Mirkovic scored 12 points on 6 of 10 shooting and looked good enough dishing out four assists that Wolverines coach John Beilein called him a "brilliant passer."
The 6-foot-11 center ranks seventh in the Big Ten with 7.2 rebounds per game in league play but grabbed only one last Saturday at Michigan State. Foul trouble, the result of posting up too aggressively, limited him to a mostly invisible 19 minutes.
"He has been working hard at getting deep enough (down low) to be a threat," Wildcats coach Bill Carmody said. "The other night at Michigan State, he was working a little too hard.
"But earlier in the season it was my fault. He was getting the ball 10 feet from the basket."
Mirkovic and fellow giant Kyle Rowley are both sophomores, and last year the NU coaches debated which player to start. Rowley got the call 28 times, logging 13.3 minutes per game. Mirkovic started just twice, averaging 18.5.
This year, it's no contest. Mirkovic routinely plays 30-plus minutes and has started 18 of 22 games.
Perhaps he wished he hadn't gotten the call during a two-game stretch to start conference play. Illinois' Mike Tisdale burned him for 31 points in Champaign and then Mirkovic missed 7 of 9 from the field at Michigan State, plus all four free throw attempts.
"To be honest, I don't know what was wrong," he said. "I stayed with it. I didn't want to quit. It's not the way I do things. I kept working, staying after practice and coming in for workouts. My hard work finally is paying off."
Mirkovic had one of his best games last season (eight points, seven rebounds) in NU's victory at Indiana. The teams meet again Sunday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
"He's a little stubborn, which makes him good," Carmody said. "He knows he's a good player, and he has accepted some accountability for how he's playing; it's not someone else's fault."
