Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Arizona State
Northwestern Falls To Arizona State
12/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2004
Box Score
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - The weather in Arizona was far superior to Chicago Monday, but the Northwestern men's basketball team was still buried by an avalanche.
After a 7-0 run to end the first half, the Wildcats came out to start the second half and got a quick bucket from Mike Thompson. That made the score 35-34, Arizona State.
To say that the game went the Sun Devils way after that basket would be an understatement. Arizona State (8-1) scored 13 of the game's next 16 points, setting the tone for a second half that saw the Devils score a staggering 55 points en route to a 90-55 win.
The 55 second-half points were the most scored in a half by an NU opponent in the Bill Carmody era, and were not only the same amount scored by the Wildcats in the entire game but also more than any of Northwestern's last four opponents scored in their game with the 'Cats.
Ike Diogu scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half for ASU, while Steve Moore led five Sun Devils players in double figures with 18. Tyrone Jackson and Serge Angounou scored 12 apiece and Jason Braxton added 10 for the Sun Devils, who shot a season-best 60 percent from the field (31-of-52) including 69 percent (18-of-26) in the second half.
Perhaps more amazing, Arizona State made 13-of-20 three-point shots -- including an incredible 8-of-10 treys in the second stanza -- en route to its sixth win in a row, a first since the 1998-99 season.
T.J. Parker scored 14 for Northwestern (4-5), going 7-of-11 from the field. Vedran Vukusic added 12 points and extended his free-throw streak to 24, while Davor Duvancic had 10 points.
Shockingly, the Wildcats trailed only 48-43 after Parker's 16-footer with 14:03 to play. But Kevin Kruger's trey capped a 17-6 surge that put Arizona State up 65-49 with 8:13 to go.
The Wildcats abandoned their zone defense for a man-to-man, and the Sun Devils turned the game into a blowout. The run reached 28-8 after Moore's 16-footer gave Arizona State a 76-51 lead with five minutes to go.
Diogu -- who entered the game averaging nearly 25 points per game -- did not get a shot off against Northwestern's zone for the first 12 minutes of the game and was just 1-for-2 at half for five points. His lone first-half field goal, a three-pointer from the top of the key, capped a 13-4 run that put Arizona State ahead 33-23 with 3:43 left in the half.
But Northwestern -- which had success against ASU's high-pressure man-to-man defense throughout the half, getting several layups -- scored the final seven points, the last two on Parker's layup with three seconds left that cut Arizona State's lead to 35-32 at the break.
