NU gets to 4-0 for 1st time in 17 years
Many college basketball teams can count on a 4-0 start to their seasons each fall, but for Northwestern it hasn't been an easy task to accomplish over the course of the program's history.
Sunday's 65-52 victory over Creighton at Welsh-Ryan Arena made this season's Wildcats just the 14th team in the 106-year history of the program, and the first since the 1993, to begin a season with wins in the first four games.
While it is a rare accomplishment, it remains just a neat feat for the Wildcats as their focus is already on to other things.
“It's exciting, but we're just taking it one game at a time,” Northwestern forward John Shurna said. “This is a good win for us, and we've got a quick turnaround. We play the ACC/Big Ten challenge against Georgia Tech so we're right back at it with the scout (today).”
Shurna scored a game-high 23 points and finished off a Michael Thompson alley-oop pass in the second half to cap a 10-0 Northwestern run and put the Wildcats up by 16.
On Northwestern's two possessions prior to the alley-oop pass, Thompson sank 3-pointers to help ignite a Wildcats offense that had just 7 points in the second half to that point.
“As a team we work on 3-point shooting every day,” said Thompson, who finished with 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting. “I was open and my teammates did a great job of finding me when I was open. I just got open shots and knocked them down.”
“He played a good game,” Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said of Thompson. “He wasn't just a floor general. He was attacking the rim, and John (Shurna) was attacking the rim too. They're both very good shooters, but you've got to mix it up.”
In second half Northwestern held Creighton to 7-of-25 shooting, helping offset a poor offensive second half for the Wildcats, which saw them score just 25 points.
“In the second half Luka (Mirkovic) really stepped up and handled their big men well, and we all played pretty well defensively,” Shurna said.
Antoine Young led the Blue Jays with 18 points, and Kenny Lawson Jr. recorded a double-double (11 points, 12 rebounds).
“We played well enough offensively in the first half to win the game, and we played well enough defensively in the second half to win the game, but we couldn't do it for 40 minutes,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said.
Northwestern now has to quickly get prepared to face Georgia Tech on Tuesday after having an eight-day break to get ready for Creighton.
“We only have one day (to prepare), so we're on somewhat of an NBA schedule,” Thompson said. “It'll be interesting, but it will be a lot of fun. I think everyone on our team is ready for the challenge.”