The Wild Side erupted and a French banner waved as T.J. Parker lay on his back after kissing in an acrobatic layup despite a hard foul.
“I don’t practice shots like that,” Parker, a native of France, said after the game with a sly grin. “I just put it out there, and it went in.”
The Northwestern point guard converted the three-point play with 4:51 remaining to give the Northwestern men’s basketball team a 30-point lead over New Hampshire on Monday en route to an 81-55 victory.
Far from a second-half letdown — like they had in Friday’s 56-36 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore — NU aggressively increased its 10-point halftime lead. Led by junior Jitim Young, NU doubled its lead seven minutes into the second half and kept pushing until Parker put the finishing touch on the blowout.
Young drove by slower New Hampshire defenders at will, scoring 29 points on 11-of-14 shooting. The guard added a team-high eight rebounds, including five offensive boards, to his career-high point total before taking a permanent seat with more than six minutes left.
“He came out more aggressively,” NU coach Bill Carmody said. “And when you knock down a couple shots, that helps a lot.”
After Friday’s slow-paced, sloppy game in which NU shot 22 percent from three-point range, the Cats decided to turn their focus away from the perimeter.
“We just tried to say right from the beginning, ‘Get to the hole,'” Carmody said.
Young responded by slashing his way to 16 first-half points against New Hampshire’s 2-3 zone.
“I was lackadaisical in Friday’s game, and I didn’t want to be a guy that starts the season slow,” Young said of his 10-point performance on Friday.
In Monday’s game, the rest of the Cats followed suit, and NU thrived on easy baskets, shooting 51.8 percent for the night. The Cats also made 7 of 21 shots from beyond the arc, including 5-for-10 in the second half — an improvement over Friday’s game and two dismal exhibition performances.
But Carmody downplayed his team’s long-range turnaround.
“When you’re up 20 (points, even) I make a lot of shots,” he said.
Senior guard Jason Burke scored 13 points on 4-for-6 shooting and added a career-high six assists.
Senior Winston Blake drained two straight threes to end his night and recorded 11 points to match Parker’s scoring total.
NU improved on Friday’s performance in other aspects, as well. Carmody said he was pleased with the progress and noted the Cats’ biggest strides were made in their turnover tally.
After 17 turnovers — including 12 in the second half — against the Fighting Hawks, NU had only eight against New Hampshire. The trend was highlighted by Parker’s six-assist, zero-turnover night three days after the freshman had five turnovers Friday.
On the other end, the Cats’ 2-3 zone created problems for New Hampshire all night, leading to 16 turnovers. NU notched eight steals and held New Hampshire to just 36.5 percent shooting for the contest.
Senior Aaron Jennings provided NU with a defensive anchor in the lane, blocking seven shots — second all-time on NU’s single-game list — in just 20 minutes of play. The center added a steal, three assists and four points to follow up his 16-point performance on Friday.
Jennings has started both games for NU but has seen limited action — averaging 22.5 minutes per game — due to shin splints.
“I told Aaron he’s playing like a 30-year-old guy with his legs hurt,” Carmody said. “He’s not running around so much, but he’s playing smarter.”
