Northwestern continues to find ways to win without Kevin Coble. The Wildcats took down their third major conference team in as many games with a 65-53 victory over N.C. State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday.
On offense Northwestern was led by the powerful play of point guard Michael Thompson. Thompson showed his strength and play-making ability on a number of opportunities. He scored 22 points on a variety of drives, pull-ups and three-point shots. He also had three rebounds and two assists. In general Thompson played all 40 minutes and outplayed N.C. State's junior guard Javier Gonzalez during every single one.
What really carried Northwestern in this game though was the tenacious defense. The Wildcats held the Wolfpack to 53 points in 69 possessions, .77 points per trip. That's incredible defense. N.C. State shot just 35.2% from the field and 11.1% from the three-point line. Even though Northwestern managed just 65 points, but it was way more than enough to get the victory.
The Northwestern victory, combined with Purdue's victory over Wake Forest and Penn State's victory over Virginia, gave the Big Ten an early 3-0 lead in the challenge. (Though it could be tied by the end of the night.)
The other player who was outstanding in the game was Jeremy Nash. Nash had a bit of foul trouble in the second half, but his defense at the top of the 1-3-1 was instrumental in bothering N.C. State's offense and he also grabbed 8 rebounds. Nash finished with a stat-stuffer line of 12 points, 8 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal and 1 block.
Alex Marcotullio also continued his string of gritty games. While he didn't shoot quite as well tonight, he finished 3-8 and 2-5 from beyond the arc, he continued to make an impact. He hit a big three to keep the Wolfpack at bay and also picked up a technical foul. While the elbow didn't look that bad on television, it was interesting to see a Northwestern player get such a call on them.
The two-headed monster of Luka Mirkovic and Kyle Rowley both did some things well on the road. Combined they finished with a very respectable 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks and 6 turnovers. The turnovers really need to be worked on, both Mirkovic and Rowley gave N.C. State easy points on the fast break, but the overall production level from the two was solid. The centers, and 8 boards from John Shurna, helped Northwestern finish with a 33-26 advantage on the glass.
With the win Northwestern is set up to make a legitimate run to set themselves up to be in the bubble conversation come the start of the Big Ten regular season. N.C. State isn't going to be a very good ACC squad, but a road victory is never something to sneeze at. Northwestern needed to get at least one in order to help legitimize the neutral court victories last week against Notre Dame and Iowa State. (Now if Butler would get back to winning basketball games.)
Northwestern goes on break now for fall quarter exams, but the Wildcats come back in 12 days to take on North Carolina A&T at Welsh-Ryan Arena at 4 p.m. CT.
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Tags: Alex Marcotullio, Jeremy Nash, Michael Thompson, Northwestern
Go Cats! Looks like I'm going to have to start paying attention to college basketball this year now that my team is finally decent.