Men’s Basketball

The rebounding section of Northwestern’s record book hasn’t seen much revision in the past 50 years.

Jim Pitts, who played from 1962 to 1966, recorded four of the program’s top eight single-game totals ever. Three others came between 1956 and 1960.

But then came Dererk Pardon, whose 22-rebound eruption on Thursday against Nebraska moved him into a three-way tie for sixth in program history in the category.

“I just thought he was getting every rebound,” coach Chris Collins said. “He’s got a knack for the ball; he plays off; he knows the angles; he’s long. He’s always been a great offensive rebounder. To get 16 defensive rebounds … is most impressive.”

The sophomore center also pulled down six offensive rebounds and added 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting to round out his historic performance, powering the Wildcats (17-4, 6-2) to a 73-61 win over the Cornhuskers (9-11, 3-5).

Pardon has consistently managed to elevate his play against Nebraska. In just his second career appearance last season, he exploded for 28 points and 12 rebounds in a victory in Lincoln. Earlier this month, he scored 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting in another win over the Cornhuskers.

But to continue that trend of dominance, Pardon had to recover from a recent dud against Ohio State in which he shot 1-for-7 and committed four fouls and two turnovers.

“Dererk did not play his best at Ohio State, and he took it really personally,” Collins said. “For him to come home and put the gym time in the last two days and come out and have this kind of performance is just incredible.”

Pardon said he was confident entering Thursday’s game for two reasons: a belief that his shooting luck would inevitably improve, and the knowledge that Nebraska’s leading rebounder, Ed Morrow, was out with an injury.

“We knew we had a big advantage inside and that was the big thing that we focused on during our prep,” Pardon said, “so we had to just capitalize on that.”

Capitalize they did. Although NU only won the overall rebounding battle 43-41, Pardon exploited a matchup against Nebraska forward Michael Jacobson — who Nebraska coach Tim Miles called “more of a 4-man” than a center — to record second-chance point after second-chance point throughout the night.

The most important putback came with the Cats up 5 with 6:13 left. To his right, Pardon saw junior guard Bryant McIntosh release — and miss — one of his patented mid-range floaters.

Pardon knew exactly what to do.

“When I saw B-Mac shoot the shot, I saw (Nebraska’s) big help up to contest the shot … so I knew I was open rebounding,” Pardon said. “My job was to go up and get that rebound, and I was open (and) got the and-1.”

His layup jumpstarted a 20-6 NU run that put the game comfortably away and cemented the final brick of one of the most impressive outings Welsh-Ryan Arena has seen in years.

“Last year, he had the first Dererk Pardon game,” sophomore forward Vic Law said. “This is the second one.”

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