NU drops Big Ten opener to Purdue
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — E'Twaun Moore missed an open 3-pointer on Purdue's first possession. That didn't exactly deter the senior guard.
Moore reeled off 5 straight 3-pointers in the next five minutes to trigger No. 12 Purdue's 82-69 victory in Northwestern's Big Ten opener Friday afternoon at Mackey Arena.
The all-Big Ten guard finished with a career-high 7 3-pointers and a career-high-tying 31 points.
All-Big Ten center JaJuan Johnson added 19 points and 9 rebounds for Purdue (13-1, 2-0) while NU leader John Shurna gutted out a high ankle sprain and managed a season-low 11 points in 34 minutes.
“Their zone, I just always happen to find open spots,” Moore said. “My guards always give me the ball when I need it, and my shot was feeling good.”
Moore didn't score in the final 8:26, though, and the Wildcats (9-2, 0-1) made a few runs at shocking the Boilers.
NU chopped a 12-point deficit to 5 as Mike Capocci fed Michael Thompson for an alley-oop layup and then stole a pass for a fast-break slam.
When Thompson turned Capocci's offensive rebound into a long 3-pointer, the Wildcats were within 66-61 with 6:32 left.
NU had a chance to get closer, but Capocci missed a tough layup on an inbounds play and fouled on the subsequent scramble. The Wildcats never got closer than 6 points again.
“We could never make the big play,” said NU coach Bill Carmody. “What I thought of is, you've got to make them sweat to make their next shot. I don't think we ever got to (that) point...”
In actuality, the Wildcats felt pretty good to hang with the Boilers despite a limited contribution from Shurna. Carmody said the nation's No. 9 scorer will continue to be hobbled because three weeks' rest isn't an option right now.
Shurna finished with a season-low 11 points, not quite half of his 23.3-point average, as he favored his left ankle and had little explosiveness.
Carmody played him the first 26-plus minutes, but moved on to Capocci and others when it became clear the ankle wouldn't loosen up.
“It was fine,” Shurna said. “I'm not going to give an excuse or anything. I'm going to try not to change my game. If it's evident like that, then I'm probably not doing that good of a job.”
Drew Crawford abetted Shurna with a season-low 3 points. Moore dogged him most of the day and limited him to 1-of-6 shooting. Crawford did contribute a season-high 10 rebounds.
“I spent half of my halftime talk getting after him to start getting his nose in there and stop being a cutie-pie,” Carmody said. “It didn't help his shooting, but he was getting loose balls and blocked a couple shots. He was much better in the second half.”
To make for the rare lulls from Shurna and Crawford, Thompson led NU with 18 points while junior center Luka Mirkovic (16 points) and freshman guard JerShon Cobb (12 points) tied their career highs.
“We got a lot of contributions from a lot of guys,” Shurna said. “Those are all good signs.”