Sunday, March 6

Evanston, Ill.

1 p.m.

Northwestern

20-11, 8-10B1G

Nebraska

14-17, 6-12B1G

Team	1	2	F
Nebraska	22	32	54
Northwestern	37	28	65

Photo by: Stephen J. Carrera

Olah and Demps Lead Wildcats Past Nebraska on Senior Day, 65-54

3/6/2016 3:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Northwestern sets regular-season record with 20 wins

By: David Herder

EVANSTON, Ill.— Alex Olah and Tre Demps made the most of their Senior Day, scoring 19 and 17 points, respectively, to lead Northwestern to a 65-54 victory over Nebraska in Welsh-Ryan Arena.

The victory is the Wildcats' 20th of the season, marking the most in the regular season in program history. With the win, Chicago's Big Ten Team secured the No. 9 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and will play No. 8-seed Michigan in the secound round on Thursday.

"I'm just so happy for them, that they were able to play like this on their Senior Night in front of their family, in front of the fans," said Northwestern head coach Chris Collins.

"Its great for everybody," said Demps. "You want to leave a momentum for the program, and in my opinion, there is probably only room for one team between Penn State, Illinois, Nebraska and us to emerge and take the next step as a program, and for us to win the last three games puts us in a great position to be that team."

Northwestern (20-11, 8-10 B1G) throttled Nebraska (14-17, 6-12 B1G) in the lane, outscoring the Cornhuskers 34-18 in the paint, and outrebounding them 40-26. Scottie Lindsey pulled down a career-high eight rebounds to go along with his four points and two assists.

Both team's zones proved effective to start the game, with the only points in the first three minutes coming on a Nebraska put back layup, before Demps put the #B1GCats ahead with a long three.

Dererk Pardon had the game of his young career last time out against Nebraska, putting up 28 points and 12 boards in Lincoln. Coming off the bench Sunday, he got off to another quick start, hammering home an alley-oop, before bossing his man in the post for an easy bucket to put Northwestern up 9-6.

The Cornhuskers strung together a run to take an 11-9 lead six minutes in, but it'd be their only lead of the game as Northwestern began to turn the momentum in their favor. Demps rained in his second long three and a subsequent layup put him at 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting through 10 minutes.

Scottie Lindsey knifed through the lane to extend the lead to double digits, 22-11, with nine minutes left in the half. Through 12 minutes, the Wildcats were working the lane, with all but one of their two- point field goals from the paint.

Both teams were content to grind into half court games, combining for just a pair of fast break points the entire half. Olah continued to dominant the paint from the half court set with back-to-back layups, before Demps made it 28-15 with four minutes left in the half. Northwestern's interior dominance was key as a part of a 25-4 run that extended the lead to 34-15 with three minutes left in the half.

The Wildcats extended their lead to as much as 20 on a three-point play by McIntosh with 54 seconds left in the first half and eventually took a 37-22 lead into the break.

In the second period, the roles began to reverse, as the Cornhusker offense found its stride. In a low scoring start to the second half, Nebraska shot 47% to pull within single digits at 49-40 with 7:34 remaining.

McIntosh had been quiet for most of the game, with just six points through the first 33 minutes, but as Nebraska began to show life, so did he, sliding an assist to Olah before slicing through the lane for two points of his own and restore a 13 point lead at 53-40.

"We knew we could do whatever we wanted on offense, we just had to get stops," said Olah.

With six minutes remaining, Nebraska pushed into a full court press. Three minutes later, they had slowed Northwestern's offense, but had only scored six more points themselves. A long Olah two kept the #B1GCats up by eight with 2:50 to play. McIntosh found Sanjay Lumpkin with his seventh assist of the night, and Aaron Falzon intercepted a Nebraska pass forcing the Cornhuskers to foul.

The freshman sank two free throws to make it 61-50 with a minute left. Olah was put on the line with 30 seconds remaining, where the student sections chanted his name for one last time as he drained both. While Nebraska tried to scratch their way back into the game, Northwestern made eight of their 10 second half free throw attempts, and Demps brought down a defensive rebound with three seconds left to seal a 65-54 victory for the Wildcats.

Northwestern Notes vs. Nebraska – March 6, 2016
• The Wildcats' win was their 20^th of the season which is a program record for a regular season. The total matches the overall school record for a season previously achieved in 2009-10 and again 2010-11.
• The victory was Northwestern's eighth Big Ten win of the season, matching the program's most since 1932.
• Northwestern will be the No. 9 seed for this week's Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis. The Wildcats will face eighth-seeded Michigan at 11 a.m. Central time Thursday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
• Coupled with a win in Lincoln on Dec. 30, Northwestern earned its first two-game season sweep of Nebraska since the Cornhuskers joined the Big Ten. The 'Cats won the only meeting between the teams during the 2011-12 season.
• After finishing the first meeting between the teams with a 40-25 rebounding edge, Northwestern out-rebounded Nebraska 40-26 on Sunday.
• Bryant McIntosh recorded a game-high 7 assists in the contest. He entered the game ranked 10^th in the nation with an average of 6.7 assists per game.
• Tre Demps scored 17 points and now has 1,497 in his career which ranks 11^th all-time at Northwestern.
• Alex Olah scored a game-high 19 points, raising his career total to 1,141. He moved past Tavaras Hardy and Hal Grant into 24^th place on NU's career scoring list.
• Demps recorded 18 field goal attempts, raising his career total to 1,383 and moving him past Jim Stack into fourth place all-time at Northwestern in the category.
• Sophomore Scottie Lindsey recorded a career-high 8 rebounds in the game. His previous high was 7 vs. Mississippi Valley State on Dec. 15, 2015.
• Including a 39-point win over Rutgers and 10-point victory vs. Penn State, this is the first time Northwestern has won three straight Big Ten games by double figures since 1954.