Cats tune up for ACC test

It's Reading Week for all Northwestern students except the basketball players, who now find themselves in Speed-Reading Week.

That's because unbeaten Florida State shows up in Evanston on Wednesday for the final game of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Then, three days after that, unbeaten DePaul cruises up to visit Welsh-Ryan Arena.

NU coach Bill Carmody kept his guys in the locker room for some extra time after Monday's 59-43 victory over UC-Riverside to start cramming for the Seminoles (7-0).

"We've got to get right to it," said senior guard Craig Moore. "We expect an ACC team: very fast, very quick. We've got to come into practice tomorrow and be ready to work."

Northwestern (4-1) did enough in the first half to secure its fastest start since the 2001-02 season.

The Wildcats held the Highlanders (4-2) to just 4 points in the final 11:31 to turn an 11-10 edge into a 32-14 halftime bulge.

Kevin Coble led everyone with 14 points while Moore and freshmen Kyle Rowley and John Shurna contributed 10 points apiece.

Rowley, the 7-footer from Lake Forest Academy, impressed early and often as he hit 5 of 6 shots from the field.

Not only did he post up for a few short flips, he even outran UC-Riverside for a fastbreak layup on a feed from point guard Juice Thompson.

"He's a mountain of a man and he's a little niftier than you think," Carmody said. "He has a nice little touch around the basket and he actually beat a guy down the court today. That's a first. Mark that one down. So there's some progression."

Northwestern's defense, meanwhile, continued to be solid. UC-Riverside shot just 35 percent from the field and committed 15 turnovers.

More impressive, the Wildcats took a team that had outrebounded its last three opponents by 18.3 per game and won the rebounding battle 37-29.