It was a fairleigh — er, fairly — good day for Northwestern.

The frontcourt duo of senior forward Pete Nance and redshirt junior center Ryan Young starred in the team’s 82-46 win against Fairleigh Dickinson Thursday night.

The Wildcats (4-0, 0-0 Big Ten) have been playing smaller teams to start the season, so Nance and Young have capitalized on that advantage. Tonight was no different, as the pair combined for 39 points and 14 rebounds on 13-of-16 shooting.

Coach Chris Collins is optimistic about the Nance-Young duo in future games when there is a demand for more size, despite the two not getting much gametime together so far this season.

“We have a good kind of one-two punch there,” Collins said. “Both those guys are veterans and they’re different types of players.”

Nance’s versatility shined bright against FDU (0-2, 0-0 Northeast Conference), with the goal of moving the 6-foot-10-inch forward around the floor. Nance both rolled and popped off of high ball screens, but also initiated the offense from the top of the key.

As a player who can stretch the floor, Collins has encouraged Nance to get to the rim more this season. The senior forward was 2-of-2 from 3-point range against the Knights. And he’s frequently finished at the rim above or through contact to get to the foul line. He was a perfect 3-of-3 from the charity stripe on Thursday.

Young is a more traditional big man. An anchor on the interior, he is frequently the recipient of dump off passes from guards and wings. He also loves to have his back to the basket, capping off several NU halfcourt possessions with baby hooks that kissed off the glass.

“We knew that we were going to have a size advantage,” Young said. “Our staff emphasizes that we want to get the ball inside, so we talked about posting it, but we also just talked about getting the ball through drives.”

On the other end of the floor, the Cats were stout defensively. NU held Fairleigh Dickinson to 46 points, a tally that is the fewest points allowed so far this season.

The Cats’ backcourt held FDU leading scorer, guard Brandon Rush, to five points on 1-of-7 shooting in 25 minutes of action. The lefty was frequently hounded once he crossed halfcourt, but NU’s focus on him was most apparent when sophomore guard Ty Berry put his head in Rush’s chest 94 feet away from the inbounder.

The Berry-Rush interaction embodied the Cats’ game plan all night: relentless defense that looked more like a Big Ten effort than a November game. FDU shot a poor 30% from the field and an even worse 13% from 3-point range. They had open looks but the Knights simply couldn’t buy a bucket. NU also forced 20 turnovers, scoring 21 points off of those FDU miscues.

However, it was far from a perfect night for the Cats. They turned the ball over 18 times and the execution leaves room for growth. But the defensive effort is something that gives the team a little boost heading into the Legends Classic next week.

“I thought it was a great defensive performance, but I think just being connected on the floor definitely gives us some confidence,” Nance said. “So it’s a nice way to be able to protect our home court and leave this stretch of home games 4-0, heading into a big time tournament.”

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