With its tallest player on the front line measuring 6-foot-6, Mississippi State was no match for Wildcats center Alex Olah as Northwestern buried the Delta Devils 78-48 Tuesday night in Welsh-Ryan Arena. The seven-foot Olah made his first six shots and tallied game-highs of 21 points and 11 rebounds in the victory. Olah was 8-for-11 from the field and his first miss came on a three-pointer early in the second half.
As expected, entry passes to the low post was a point of emphasis for the coaching staff during Monday's practice. Olah only took six shots (9 points) during the Cats' 77-35 romp over Chicago State Sunday.
"We really wanted to establish him,'' head coach Chris Collins said of Olah. "We had a big size advantage. I showed the buys the tape from Sunday and they saw how many times they could have gotten the ball to him. We wound up taking 18 three-pointers in each half. The only trouble is they got away from shooting the ball tonight and it took a little away from our rhythm.''
Northwestern wound up outscoring the Delta Devils 36-22 in the paint and had a 53-42 rebound advantage. The shot 43.3 percent (26-60) for the game, hitting only seven of 28 shots from beyond the arc.
Re: Mississippi Valley State (0-12) playing its 12th of 14 consecutive road games.
"They reached out to us; they love to come to Chicago. They have a couple of Chicago kids on the team and this is a good game for us coming out of exams.Their conference (Southwestern Athletic) is only going to get one tournament bid, so they have to win their conference. It's got to be tough spending two months on the road. I only know two schools and that would be impossible to do at Duke or Northwestern.''
Re: Practice preparation.
"We're a little banged up and it's difficult to practice too hard. We have to take care of the bodies and limit the banging. It's a fine line between having fresh bodies and fresh minds because it means giving up some scrimmaging. But they'll have time now over the next couple of weeks to just concentrate on basketball. It's like the football team opening the season with four or five games before having to go to class. We'll need this time because we have to improve.''
Re: Olah suffering a chipped tooth on a no-call under the basket.
"He'll get it fixed, but right now we're trying to get him to smile as much as possible,'' says guard Bryant McIntosh.
As expected, entry passes to the low post was a point of emphasis for the coaching staff during Monday's practice. Olah only took six shots (9 points) during the Cats' 77-35 romp over Chicago State Sunday.
"We really wanted to establish him,'' head coach Chris Collins said of Olah. "We had a big size advantage. I showed the buys the tape from Sunday and they saw how many times they could have gotten the ball to him. We wound up taking 18 three-pointers in each half. The only trouble is they got away from shooting the ball tonight and it took a little away from our rhythm.''
Northwestern wound up outscoring the Delta Devils 36-22 in the paint and had a 53-42 rebound advantage. The shot 43.3 percent (26-60) for the game, hitting only seven of 28 shots from beyond the arc.
Re: Mississippi Valley State (0-12) playing its 12th of 14 consecutive road games.
"They reached out to us; they love to come to Chicago. They have a couple of Chicago kids on the team and this is a good game for us coming out of exams.Their conference (Southwestern Athletic) is only going to get one tournament bid, so they have to win their conference. It's got to be tough spending two months on the road. I only know two schools and that would be impossible to do at Duke or Northwestern.''
Re: Practice preparation.
"We're a little banged up and it's difficult to practice too hard. We have to take care of the bodies and limit the banging. It's a fine line between having fresh bodies and fresh minds because it means giving up some scrimmaging. But they'll have time now over the next couple of weeks to just concentrate on basketball. It's like the football team opening the season with four or five games before having to go to class. We'll need this time because we have to improve.''
Re: Olah suffering a chipped tooth on a no-call under the basket.
"He'll get it fixed, but right now we're trying to get him to smile as much as possible,'' says guard Bryant McIntosh.
