Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Chicago State
Northwestern Upends Chicago State, 76-60
11/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov 23, 2003
Coach Carmody Quotes in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. - Jitim Young scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds to collect the fourth double-double of his career as Northwestern defeated Chicago State 76-60 in men's basketball action Sunday night.
Young typified the evening for the Wildcats; he was a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor, made both of his shots from three-point range, and hit all but one of his eight free throw attempts. As a team, Northwestern shot 59.5 percent from the field -- including a staggering 72.2 percent in the first half -- and cooled off only slightly from beyond the arc, at 41.2 percent (7-17).
Vedran Vukusic added 11 points -- his second straight game in double figures -- while Davor Duvancic and T.J. Parker each had 10 for the Wildcats (1-1). Evan Seacat came off the bench to score nine in 15 minutes of action.
Northwestern trailed 3-2 early on, but rattled off nine of the next 11 points to jump ahead. The lead reached double digits at the midway point of the first half, and went to as much as 12 before settling on 10 (39-29) at the break. Northwestern was red-hot in the opening stanza, hitting 13 of its 18 field goals including an amazing 6-of-9 from three-point land.
Still, Carmody saw room for improvement.
"I told my guys, we had 10 turnovers in the first half," he said after the game (the Wildcats ended with 14 turnovers, compared to Chicago State's five). "It was great that we shot 70 percent in the first half from the floor, but 10 turnovers means 10 more shots we did not get."
Northwestern continued to up its lead in the early part of the second half, but pesky Chicago State would not go away. Down 19 with 11 minutes to play, the Cougars used an 11-2 run to make it a 10-point game with six minutes left. However, after the teams traded baskets, Vukusic scored a layup on a nice backdoor feed, then hit a jumper that was followed by a Duvancic jumper. Young ended the run with a layup of his own, and the lead was back to 18 (67-49).
Chicago State (0-2) was led by Tony Weeden, who scored 14 of his game-high 24 points in the first half. Craig Franklin was the only other player in double digits for the Cougars, with 12.
Northwestern is back in action Tuesday night, taking on DePaul in a nonconference contest at the Allstate Arena. It will mark the first regular-season meeting between these city rivals since 1997 -- the last time they met on the hardwood at all was the 1999 NIT, a game that DePaul won 69-64.
