Moore, Wildcats stun Seminoles
For the 10th time in 10 years, the Big Ten flunked the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Unlike most of the other seasons, though, Northwestern fought back and became part of the solution instead of the problem.
Feeding off an emotional outburst from senior guard Craig Moore after he drew consecutive offensive fouls, the Wildcats went on a 20-2 second-half spree to seize the lead and they gradually pulled away for a 73-59 triumph over previously unbeaten Florida State Wednesday night in Evanston.
"That second half, I was very happy because the defensive end of it was so good," said NU coach Bill Carmody.
Carmody picked up his 200th career win in one of the Wildcats' finer non-conference performances in years.
With upwards of 10 NBA scouts in attendance - ostensibly to watch the Seminoles' studly youngsters who dunked their way through warmups - Moore led Northwestern (5-1) with 20 points.
Junior forward Kevin Coble stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, 8 rebounds, a career-high-tying 7 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals.
Coble teamed up with backup forward Ivan Peljusic to ignite NU's monstrous second-half run.
With Florida State leading 42-41, Coble picked off a pass and fed a bomb to Peljusic for a breakaway jam that fired up the 3,537 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Peljusic added a 3-pointer and a 3-point play off a fast-break feed from Coble to give him 8 points in a 70-second stretch.
Florida State (7-1) never got closer than 5 points again despite coach Leonard Hamilton's multiple timeouts.
Northwestern improved to 3-7 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge by reversing its style in its first five games this year.
After leading each of its first five games at halftime by an average of 17 points, the Wildcats found themselves down 36-33 at the break and it could have been worse.
Carmody picked up a technical with 1:13 left in the first half that threatened to give Florida State a nicer lead at halftime.
But after Seminoles senior Uche Echefu wrapped up his 5-point play to make their lead 36-29, backup guard Jeremy Nash canned a rare 3-pointer and Jeff Ryan added a free throw to cut the margin to 3.