By Ben LarrisonThe Daily Northwestern
Struggling in the first half, Northwestern looked as if it might follow its season-opening loss to Cornell with another tough defeat.
But after a difficult start, the Wildcats found their rhythm in the second half as they defeated DePaul 49-39 on Tuesday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“It definitely wasn’t a Picasso, but in our minds it was,” senior Tim Doyle said. “It was a huge win.”
After NU (1-1) trailed 20-16 at halftime, the momentum of the game seemed to change entirely in the second half. The Cats shot 57.9 percent from the field in the second period, compared to 28 percent by DePaul (0-2). NU turned the ball over just five times the entire game.
While the Cats broke through in the second half, both teams struggled to find a shooting touch in the first. NU didn’t score until seven minutes into the half, when center Vince Scott drained a baby hook to break a 6-0 DePaul run.
The Cats shot just .269 in the first half on 7-of-26 shooting. DePaul went cold as time wore down, scoring just five points in the final seven minutes of the half.
Neither team fared well from behind the arc in the first stanza, as both teams got open looks but struggled to connect. NU was just 1 of 10 on 3-point attempts, while DePaul went 0-for-6.
“In the first half, both teams had opportunities it seemed to me, and nobody capitalized,” NU coach Bill Carmody said. “And we had some easy shots, they had some easy shots.”
At the start of the second half, the Cats came out with a 7-2 run. DePaul turned the ball over four times in the first five minutes of the half, while NU scored on four of its first six possessions. The Cats first tied the game at 20 on two free throws from Sterling Williams, but it was freshman Kevin Coble who sparked the NU run.
At one point, Coble scored seven-straight points for the Cats, helping them to a 27-25 lead with 15:36 remaining. Coble finished the night with nine points on 4-of-7 shooting.
“(Coble) was great,” Williams said. “He definitely carried us in that second half … he made some big shots for us.”
DePaul went on a 6-2 run to tie the game at 31, but a Craig Moore 3-pointer and Jeff Ryan steal-and-lay-in put the Cats back up 36-31 with 8:53 to go. DePaul cut it to 36-34, but baskets from Okrzesik and Doyle gave NU a 40-34 lead with 3:20 left.
Moore sealed the game with 1:45 remaining, hitting a three and giving the Cats their biggest lead of the night to that point at 43-36. The Blue Demons started fouling with just more than 40 seconds remaining,
DePaul’s first-half 3-point woes continued in the second, shooting just 3-of-16. The Blue Demons also saw their shooting percentage dive from 40.9 in the first half to just 28 in the second.
“We don’t have a lot of confidence in our offense right now,” DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright said.
“Our shooting has been abysmal.”
Reach Ben Larrison at [email protected].
