The Wildcats didn’t want another nonconference scare.
After trailing late and scraping out a 69-62 victory against Tennessee State on Sunday, Northwestern pulled away from Liberty early and didn’t trail after the 16:55 mark of the first half in a 69-53 victory on the strength of 22 points by freshman guard Drew Crawford.
After a few minutes, the game was never in doubt. NU fell down two early, but five 3s and an 11-0 run capped by a Jeremy Nash breakaway dunk propelled the Cats to a 34-14 lead. Sophomore forward John Shurna’s nine first-half rebounds also helped NU build an early advantage.
The Cats entered the second half with a 17-point lead, but didn’t let up: an amped up defense forced 12 turnovers. With the pressure off and Liberty pressing for the final few minutes to get back into the game, the Flames were able to cut the lead to 12, but the result never was in question.
Whereas NU blew a 13 point first-half lead against Tennessee State and let its opponent end the half up one, the Cats were able to maintain their composure and hold the lead against the Flames.
“Sometimes, other days I brought in multiple new players at the same time,” coach Bill Carmody said. “But today I tried to only bring in one player, to keep the rhythm we had going.”
NU’s defense showed improvement in the win, as well. The Cats’ 1-3-1 zone forced 19 turnovers, including 12 steals, three each from Nash and junior guard Michael Thompson.
“We had about 26 hours to prepare for that zone,” Liberty coach Dale Layer said. “When you’re playing four freshmen pretty much the whole game, sometimes five, you’re going to have a lot of turnovers against a Big Ten team.”
Crawford led NU offensively, playing the best game of his young collegiate career.
“I just felt a lot more comfortable out there tonight,” Crawford said. “The first few games I was just getting used to playing on this level.”
After going 1-for-7 from long distance in his first three games, Crawford went 5-for-10 from 3-point range Tuesday.
“I hope that’s the (Crawford) we see,” Carmody said. “Those were some open looks, but he’s a good shooter.”
Crawford was one of NU’s most highly-touted players in recent memory but his first few performances were inconsistent. He fouled out and airballed a jumper in NU’s exhibition game against Robert Morris and followed that with a two-point, four-foul outing against Northern Illinois. But Crawford proved he can play Tuesday night. His 22 points nearly doubled the 12 he totaled in his first three games.
Being critical of his early play might have been expecting too much of a true freshman, Carmody said.
“The other day I was watching Monday Night Football,” he said. “The commenter said something to paraphrase Bill Parcells – don’t anoint rookies. He’s not going to walk in here and get the gym named after him.”
NU’s centers contributed on the offensive end. Against a short Liberty team, sophomore center Kyle Rowley got his first start of the season and scored eight points. Fellow sophomore center Luka Mirkovic added six.
The Cats will play No. 23 Notre Dame in the neutral-site Chicago Invitational Challenge on Friday.
