Shurna comes alive, scores 24 in Northwestern victory
Coming off his worst game of the season, Northwestern's John Shurna showed little effect from a high ankle sprain that has been plaguing the Wildcats' 6-foot-8 forward since the end of December.
Scoring only 6 points on 2-of-10 shooting at Michigan State on Saturday, Shurna poured in 24 points, 22 coming in the first half, while leading Northwestern to a 74-60 victory over Michigan at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Tuesday night.
“John has been beat up and probably had his worst practice of the year yesterday, just horrible,'' said Northwestern coach Bill Carmody. “I was mad at him the whole time and he was mad at me the whole time. I don't think he has smiled the past three days, but this (injury) is just something he has to play through.''
Shurna had plenty of reason to smile after the Wildcats raised their record to 12-5 and 3-4 in Big Ten play. In addition to his team-high 24 points, he also pulled down 8 rebounds.
“I was most impressed with those 8 rebounds,'' Carmody said. “I don't think he had 8 combined in the past few games.''
After a brief rest on the bench in the first half, Shurna returned to the court to score 12 straight points to turn a 25-20 Wildcats advantage into a 37-24 lead. During that stretch, the Glen Ellyn native hit 4 straight shots, including back-to-back 3-pointers.
Shurna was 7-for-11 from field in the first 20 minutes, including 4-for-6 from beyond the arc. He only took 3 shots in the second half as the Wildcats concentrated on pounding the ball into center Luka Mirkovic, who scored 11 of his 13 points in the final 20 minutes. Senior point guard Michael Thompson was his usual consistent self with 10 points and 7 assists.
Northwestern used 3 straight baskets by Shurna to break out to an 18-10 lead. He hit a jumper from the baseline to break a 10-10 deadlock and then came back with a pair of 3-pointers on consecutive trips down the court. Michigan pulled within 3 twice but could never put together a significant run.
Mirkovic scored 6 of his points early in the second half as the Cats expanded their lead to 57-35 on a high drive off the glass by Thompson. The Wolverines (11-8, 1-5), who dropped their fifth straight game, were led by Stu Douglass with 17 points off the bench and Darius Morris with 16.
“Protecting your home court is very important in this conference because hardly anyone is winning on the road,'' Carmody said. “Even though we got off to a 0-3 start, I thought we were in a good place. We had good wins over Indiana and Iowa and let one get away at Michigan State. But you still have to steal a few on the road in this conference.''
Northwestern remains at home Thursday night for a 5:30 start against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville before hosting Wisconsin at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.