Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Penn State
Vukusic, Young Propel Wildcats Past Penn State, 57-52
3/11/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 11, 2004
INDIANAPOLIS - Vedran Vukusic scored 16 points, Jitim Young added 14 and Northwestern used a stunning defensive display to defeat 11th-seeded Penn State 57-52 in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament Thursday afternoon at Conseco Fieldhouse.
Northwestern (14-14), the sixth seed, now faces third-seeded Michigan State (17-10) in Friday's quarterfinals. That game will tip off at approximately 9:10 EST (8:10 p.m. CST) and will be televised in Chicago on WCIU-TV (Ch. 26). If the Wildcats should win Friday's game, they would become NIT eligible.
Penn State (9-19) lost its 11th straight, primarily because of an aggressive, pressing Northwestern defense.
At halftime, the Nittany Lions had just four more points (24) than they did turnovers (20). The Wildcats shot just 36.4 percent for the game, yet still managed to produce their third conference tournament victory, largely because they set a single-game tournament record with 22 steals, 17 in the first half.
The previous record was 15 set by Penn State in 2000 against Illinois. NU fell one steal shy of tying the all-time Big Ten mark of 23, set by Iowa on two occasions.
Young set the individual tournament record with eight steals, while Vukusic tied the previous record of six (Sergio McClain of Illinois). The 22 steals is also a Northwestern school record.
Penn State led 22-12 with 5:43 left in the half before the Wildcats finally warmed up. Northwestern went on a 14-0 run and led 26-24 at halftime -- with 22 of those points coming off turnovers.
They sealed the victory with a late 7-0 spurt to take a 56-48 lead in the final minute. Mohamed Hachad, who finished with 13 points, hit a key three-pointer with 2:18 remaining to push the lead from 49-48 to 52-48. He later capped the run on a layup with 52 seconds left for a 56-48 advantage.
