(Phoenix, AZ) The first game of the night session at the Footprint Center for the Hall of Fame Jerry Colangelo Classic paired Northwestern University Wildcats from the B1G and the hometown Sun Devils of the Pacific 12.
This matchup was all about size versus speed and physicality versus finesse.
The Wildcats came in at 8-2, while ASU was 6-4. Each is closing out the non-conference portions of their schedules.
The Midwest Cats were slow out of the gate as were the Sun Devils. Six minutes into the contest, the score was 8-4 in favor of Northwestern.
Near the midway point of the first half, the Wildcats were up 18-7 largely due to 47% on field goals and 3-7 from three point land.
Subsequently, the Sun Devils were just 3-14 from the field and 1-7 from beyond the arc.
Size had the advantage with NU up 15-7 on the boards. The outside shot was beginning to fall now for the Wildcats as they extended their lead 25-12 with under six minutes left in the first half.
Arizona State couldn’t even muster a point a minute as they limped into the halftime locker room down 36-13.
We knew ASU wasn’t a great shooing team and relied on athleticism, but they couldn’t hit a basket if their lives depended on it. Just 5-26 from field to go along with just one three point bucket.
On the other end of the court, the Wildcats had 16 points in the paint and 9 second chance points to zero for ASU.
Brooks Barnhizer led Northwestern with 13 points on 6-7 shooting. No one for the Devils had more than 5 points in the first half.
Adam Miller hit a three pointer to start the second half for ASU, but it was matched by a three from NU’s Boo Buie.
The Wildcats were by very methodical in their half court sets, while ASU played like their house was on fire, often taking the first shot available without making Northwestern play more than 10-12 seconds of defense.
Halfway through the second half, the Sun Devils still trailed by twenty one points 49-28.
Northwestern with the huge lead notched down their intensity in the latter staged of the second half. Still up 61-42 with 3:04 left on the clock, they used the majority of the shot clock on each possession.
If you wanted to put a positive spin on this game for Arizona State, they did outscore Northwestern 33-29 in the second half, but that horrible start was too much to come back from.
Final score 65-46 for the Wildcats.
Buie led NU with 22 points and 4-8 three pointers. Brooks Barnhizer chipped in 16 points. Northwestern shot a solid 47% on the floor and out rebounded the Devis 41-31.
Frankie Collin’s was the lone Devil in double figures with 10 points. Once again, the glaring stat was only nine assists for the entire game for ASU as they go 6-5 in the non conference.
Coach Hurley said in his postgame press conference that he’s been giving the players on the floor freedom to make things happen. That may need to change to a more structured offense going forward into the PAC-12 season.
Next up for the Sun Devils is their PAC-12 opener at Stanford on December 29th.
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