Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Purdue
Vukusic, Doyle Help Wildcats Win Big Ten Opener
1/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 4, 2006
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EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) - Vedran Vukusic tied a season-high with 28 points and Tim Doyle added a career-high 20 points to lead Northwestern to a 66-53 victory over Purdue in the teams' Big Ten opener Wednesday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Northwestern has now won four straight over the Boilermakers and five of the last six. They travel to Minnesota Saturday.
Vukusic hit his first five shots and scored 20 points in the first half, hitting 7 of 8 field goals and 4 of 5 free throws. Vukusic shot 9 of 13 from the floor and 8 of 9 from the line overall.
The Wildcats (8-4, 1-0 in the Big Ten) were missing second-leading scorer Mohamed Hachad, who is out after an appendectomy, but Doyle contributed with 20 points and had five assists and four rebounds to compliment Vukusic.
It marked the first time since Dec. 27, 2003 when the Wildcats had two players score 20 points in the same game.
"It is important for Tim to score inside," head coach Bill Carmody said. "It allows Vedran to play outside more. Not only can he post up, but Tim is also a great passer from the post. If we can put him in the post with Bernard (Coté), Vedran and Craig on the outside, I really believe our offense will work nicely. Tim is a really good basketball player. I have liked him since his sophomore year of high school."
In a game featuring two short-handed teams, Purdue (6-6, 0-1) took an early hit when freshman forward Nate Minnoy went down with a right knee injury early in the first half. The Boilermakers were already without expected starters Carl Landry, Tarrance Crump and David Teague, who are all out for the season.
Purdue had 11 turnovers in the first half, which led to 18 points for the Wildcats, who led 37-26 at the break.
Matt Kiefer scored a season-high 21 points to lead the Boilermakers, who have now lost two straight games.
Chris Lutz added 12 points for Purdue, which got as close as seven points in the second half before Northwestern pulled away.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
