The Wildcats went down to the desert and ran away with a 65-46 win over Arizona State.
Northwestern dominates Arizona State from the jump
- Thread starter mshelton33
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The Wildcats went down to the desert and ran away with a 65-46 win over Arizona State.
Absolutely took care of business from the very beginning. I actually did a double take at the halftime score. Crushed a PAC-12 team, basically on the road. A pleasure to watch. Finish out the slate vs Jackson State (who gave up 100 tonight) … then the B1G gauntlet resumes.
The other neutral court game tonight is Arizona vs Alabama.
Neutral courts like that are misnamed imho.
Neutral courts like that are misnamed imho.
Not sure that was a pro-ASU crowd though as it was clearly a pro-Arizona crowd, even for our game.
I watched the first half this morning (Xmas party last night). ASU is bad, but that was a defensive beatdown. Very few open looks for the Sun Devils.
I loved the first half, but I was just as impressed by the second half. It is really hard to keep the pedal down when you're up 20+ in the first half. I fully expected ASU to make a run and to have to sweat it out down the stretch, but every time they got it to 18 or below, we responded. We avoided any long scoring droughts, and we kept them from stringing together 4-5 baskets.
I think this is a very good point. I have to keep reminding myself that these guys are not robots. You can't assume that if we were 23 points better than them in the first half, we should still be 23 points better than them in the second. It almost never works that way in sports. I agree with you that the key was that ASU, despite playing better in the second half with more energy, never made us nervous. We did enough to hold a lead in the high teens throughout. Nice win!
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Boo had one play in the second half when ASU was pressing and he made a terrible cross-court pass, but other than that, he played like the All American that he is. He has become an absolute rock out there. Sticking his nose in there on defense, and running the show on O like a baller. It's pretty awesome how he has developed as a player over his, what, 8 or 9 years at Northwestern?
Yes he did, and you could see several of the ASU guys hang their heads after both of them as if to say a comeback tonight is hopeless
My son’s middle school team has a diminutive guard who has a good handle, but gets killed in the paint. I have been sending Boo highlights to his dad to show him how to work inside. Boo is a master.
Collins kept trying to get Buie rest and we had immediate issues turning the ball over. We’ve played pretty well a couple of times this season without him on the floor but last night was not one of them. Langborg needs to make better decisions on his passes. And Clayton stopped his dribble just past half court. We need to get Clayton minutes in this next game.
There have definitely been a few lazy passes in the last three games. Just needs a little more zip maybe, or better awareness of the speed of his opponents.
That said, everyone seemed to do well breaking the press last night.
It would just be nice to find someone who can run the offense when Buie is out without turning the ball over. Hopefully, Clayton is that guy with more experience. Don’t need him to be a scorer. Just get us into the offense so we can get a good shot in each possession. Greer would be perfect this year.
I was shocked when Clayton picked up the ball, under pressure, just across the line and without someone obviously open for a pass. He's been decent handling the ball and that was such a rookie move.
Totally. Or Sobo. A serviceable backup PG will be necessary at some point, which I assume is why Collins is getting Clayton minutes. I wish he had more.
I think Clayton is that guy this year and just needs more experience. But CC has also been running the offense thru Brooks, Ryan, and at times Ty and I think that's partly about getting them used to doing it for similar reasons along with giving the offense different looks even when Boo is on the court.
