Crawford leads Northwestern past Liberty

When it comes to expectations for Northwestern freshman guard Drew Crawford, here's the pecking order:

• Crawford has owned plenty since arriving on campus in late summer.

• Liberty coach Dale Layer held few entering Tuesday's Chicago Invitational Challenge game in Evanston.

• Northwestern coach Bill Carmody has been somewhere between those two extremes.

"It's not like he's going to come in here and they're going to name the gym after him after one game," Carmody said.

But after Crawford's fourth game, they just might paint a spot beyond the 3-point arc to commemorate his effort.

The Naperville Central product buried five 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 22 points to pace the Wildcats to a 69-53 win before an estimated 1,500 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Crawford entered the night with just 12 points (and 1-for-7 shooting from 3-point range) to show for his first three college games.

"I was just kind of pressing a little bit in the first couple of games," Crawford said. "Just not playing the way I knew I could. I was just kind of thinking too much out there.

"The past couple games, I've just gone out and played aggressive rather than thinking too much."

John Shurna added 14 points and 9 rebounds for Northwestern (3-1). Junior point guard Michael Thompson managed just 5 points two days after hitting Tennessee State with a career-high 31.

Liberty (1-5) saw that tape and decided it needed to slow down Juice before all others. In fact, the Flames also put Shurna, senior guard Jeremy Nash and backup guard Alex Marcotullio on their hit list ahead of Crawford.

"We were very, very concerned about Thompson coming in and we were not as concerned about Crawford coming," said Liberty coach Dale Layer. "And that's our mistake. He proved he's got the ability to step up. I thought he was the difference in their team."

Of course, this being a snakebitten month for Northwestern, it couldn't emerge unscathed without an injury.

Marcotullio, whose deadeye shooting has been a highlight in the early going, injured his right thumb diving for a loose ball in front of the scorer's table with 4:12 left in the first half.

Marcotullio laid out of bounds, holding his mangled hand aloft to Carmody and the team.

"I didn't want to look," Crawford said. "Coach (Tavaras) Hardy just said don't look, so I didn't look."

Marcotullio sat out the rest of the game with a wrap on his thumb. NU planned to take an X-ray, but doesn't expect anything to show up.

That would be a nice break for the Wildcats as they headed into their Chicago Invitational Challenge semifinal against No. 23 Notre Dame (5-0) at 7:30 p.m. Friiday at UIC.

"It's a real good team, but I think it's a great time to have a good game," Carmody said. "Let's go. We played Butler and we didn't play well. Now we've had a couple games. Let's see what we can do."