Five players hit double figures in NU victory

If you're on Northwestern's basketball team and your name isn't Drew Crawford or John Shurna, you know the drill.

“Teams have been keying on John and Drew; they're on the top of other teams' scouting reports,” guard Alex Marcotullio said of the Wildcats' top two scorers. “It was time for other players to step up.”

OK. How does five guys scoring in double figures — led by freshman guard Dave Sobolewski's game-high 23 points — and an 83-64 thumping of visiting Iowa work for you?

“Five guys in double figures ... that's a tremendous compliment to our unselfishness,” said Marcotullio, who connected on 3 straight 3-pointers in the second half and finished up with 13 points. “We stepped up really well.”

No one more than Sobolewski. The Naperville native was absolutely the sparkplug Thursday in leading the Cats (15-8, 5-6 Big Ten) to their third straight victory, the team's first three-game winning streak in the Big Ten since the 2008-09 season.

“It's a great feeling,” Sobolewski said of his performance. “And when your teammates are hitting shots, too ... it's real exciting. This place can get real loud.”

“The last few games he's played very, very well,” Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said. “I've been coaching that kid hard and he'll snarl at you once in a while, but he listens.”

Shurna finished the night with 17 points and provided the 15-second sequence of the game in the first half when he nailed a 3-pointer at one end and then swooped in and blocked a 3-point attempt at the other.

It was just another good defensive play on a good defensive — and offensive — night for Northwestern.

“Different guys contributed; a nice team victory,” Carmody said. “It was a real nice game for us.”

Meanwhile, for Iowa?

Hawkeyes coach Fran McCaffrey summed it up perfectly: “There wasn't anything good about tonight.”

The Hawkeyes, who allowed Northwestern to hit 13 of 25 3-pointers, fell to 13-12, 5-7.

Now that they're riding their 3-game winning streak and starting to feel good about themselves, Carmody said it's time for even more.

“We shouldn't be in any (tournament) talk until we get some wins,” Carmody said. “We have a good team, but we have to go play two good games on the road (at Purdue and Indiana).

“We're 2-0 (in the second half of the conference season). We need to go on a little run here.”