Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Indiana
Wildcats Run Away From Hoosiers, 74-61
2/5/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb 5, 2003
By NANCY ARMOUR
AP Sports Writer
EVANSTON, Ill. - Jitim Young scored 23 and T.J. Parker had 21 Wednesday night as Northwestern stunned Indiana 74-61, beating the Hoosiers for the first time in 15 years.
It was the fourth straight loss for Indiana (14-7, 4-4 Big Ten), which wrapped up an extended road trip that included stops at Purdue, Michigan State and Louisville. Northwestern (9-10, 1-7) snapped a seven-game losing streak with its first Big Ten victory.
With 10 seconds to go, Northwestern fans were chanting "Over-rated! Over-rated!" as Hoosier fans sat quietly. When the final buzzer sounded, students rushed the floor, mobbing the victorious Wildcats.
And no wonder. Northwestern hadn't beaten Indiana since Jan. 11, 1988, a 26-game losing streak. The rivalry hasn't exactly been competitive, either. In a game last month, the Hoosiers routed Northwestern 71-57.
But with Young setting the tone, the Wildcats went after Indiana from the opening tip and never trailed. Young was playing with a dislocated middle finger on his left hand - there was some question whether he'd even play earlier this week - but he was 9-of-11 from the floor and snagged 12 rebounds to finish with a double-double.
"Jitim was terrific tonight," said NU head coach Bill Carmody. "He was trying to post up Newton and Leach at the end and we said `whoa,' but when he did get the ball he made very good decisions."
The Wildcats never let Indiana get into a rhythm, hustling on every possession, swarming the Hoosiers, harassing them defensively and making a general nuisance of themselves. Despite being decidedly undersized, they outrebounded the Hoosiers 38-31. They had a whopping 11 steals, six alone by Mohamed Hachad.
"Tonight there was just a lot more energy," said Carmody. "(Early on) they had a few open looks that they missed. And then we were able to dictate the game with our offense. It seemed that when we had to come up with a play, we came up with it."
Indiana shot almost 44 percent, but had only two players in double figures. A.J. Moye finished with 14, and Bracey Wright had 12.
Northwestern played with a lead the entire night, and Indiana could never make a real dent in it. After Indiana whittled the deficit to 30-24 at the half, Parker and Young opened the second half with back-to-back layups.
Northwestern pushed its lead to 48-33 when Parker scored on a backdoor layup off a nifty inside pass from Jason Burke with 12:52 to play.
Moye tried to rally the Hoosiers, stealing the ball and scoring on a give-and-go with Wright. The basket, which cut Northwestern's lead to 52-41, elated the Hoosier fans, who filled more than half of the arena.
But Winston Blake quickly quieted them down a 3-pointer, and Young and Parker scored on layups to put Northwestern up 59-42 with 6:47 to play.
Blake's three, though late, was a huge bucket and pushed him over 1,000 points for his career. Blake became the 24th player in Northwestern history to reach the century mark in career scoring.
Indiana made one last run at the Wildcats. Donald Perry made a 3 and then a pair of free throws to spark a 9-2 run that pulled the Hoosiers within 61-51. But the Wildcats turned up the pressure defensively, Young scored on a reverse, and Indiana never threatened again.
Indiana got off to a cold start, going scoreless for four and five minutes in the first half. Young, meanwhile, scored on a driving layup to spark a 10-1 run that gave Northwestern an 18-9 lead with 8:30 left in the first half.
