Northwestern’s biggest scoring night in 13 years didn’t do anything for the hitherto winless Wildcats’ national stature but Tuesday night’s 95-63 blowout of Division III Benedictine bolstered their self-esteem.
The last time the Wildcats (2-1) scored more points was March 12, 1994, when they outgunned Michigan 97-93 in overtime. Benedictine (1-2) is no Michigan and, in complete contrast to that contest, Tuesday’s game in Welsh-Ryan Arena was a mismatch from start to finish.
“It definitely gave us a boost,” said sophomore swingman Jeff Ryan, who came off the bench to lead Northwestern in scoring with 20 points. “In these games coming up, guys are going to have a lot of confidence that they can make shots.”
Against Benedictine, the Wildcats shot 61 percent. Ryan was 8 of 11, junior guard Craig Moore was 7 of 10 and senior guard Jason Okrzesik was 6 of 9.
“We came in a little down,” said Moore, who had 19 points, a game-high seven rebounds and four assists. “We thought we should have won at least one of those [previous] games if not both. This shows our freshmen that we can play well.”
Because the Wildcats didn’t shoot well in their losses to Stanford and DePaul, Benedictine coach Keith Bunkenburg’s game plan was to force them to the perimeter.
Led by Moore and Okrzesik, Northwestern responded by hitting 10 of 17 three-point shots in the first half.
In the second half, the Eagles tightened their perimeter defense, and the Wildcats were 0 of 6 from three-point territory. But they adjusted by focusing on driving and cutting to the basket and wound up scoring 51 points in the paint.
Northwestern coach Bill Carmody was pleased with his team’s ball movement and shooting but the Wildcats’ perimeter defense left a lot to be desired.
“We couldn’t stop their three-point shooters,” he said. “You don’t win many games when a team makes 13 threes in 27 shots. Clearly, we have to make some adjustments on defense.”
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nmilbert@tribune.com
