ROSEMONT, Ill.-Whatever fog Northwestern was in early in the season has apparently dissipated.
The Wildcats buried Valparaiso 84-50 at Allstate Arena behind an avalanche of 3-pointers. It was the second straight blowout win for Northwestern, which was coming off of a historic 65-point demolition of Chicago State.
The Wildcats built a 10-point lead in just over six minutes against the Crusaders on the strength of their early 3-point marksmanship. That edge ballooned to 20 by the 7:34 mark of the half and reached 30 early in the second half before topping out at 39. Northwestern put it on cruise control after that as both Charlie Hall and Tino Malnati entered the game – though neither one scored.
Vic Law led all scorers with 18 points, while Scottie Lindsey added 13 and Gavin Skelly 12 to go along with his game-high 10 rebounds.
Joe Burton led Valparaiso with 16 points, the only Crusader to reach double figures.
Here are our three pointers on the win that raises Northwestern’s record to 7-4 (1-1 Big Ten):
It was raining 3s in Rosemont: Northwestern shot a blistering 55 percent (12 of 22) from beyond the arc, erasing any hopes that Valparaiso could pull an upset. Northwestern actually shot better from beyond the arc than inside it (16 of 39, 41 percent), as Valpo played a lot of zone defense, opening things up on the outside. The Wildcats hit 7 of 14 triples in the first half and came back to drain 5 of 8 in the second. Law cooled off after hitting his first four 3s but still finished 5 for 7 from long distance. Aaron Falzon hit both his 3-point attempts, while Lindsey hit 2 of 5 and Skelly 2 of 4. Jordan Ash even got into the act, hitting 1 of 2. Northwestern’s long-range accuracy was especially impressive because Valparaiso came into the game ranked eighth in the country in 3-point field goal defense.
The first half was a clinic: Law came out smoking, hitting his first four shots from the floor, all of them 3-pointers, and had 15 points in the first 6:51 of game time before taking a seat on the bench. His 3s included one on which he was fouled – and of course he converted the free throw for a four-point play. Law finally missed on his fifth shot at the 10:01 mark. But while Law led the way, Northwestern also spread the scoring around. Eight of the nine Wildcats who saw action in the first half scored (all but Anthony Gaines). Falzon came off the bench and promptly hit a triple from the corner. Law missed a jumper and Skelly was there for the putback. The Wildcats committed just three turnovers and outscored Valpo 16-8 in the paint, 14-1 on second-chance points and 12-6 in bench scoring. Their lead got as high as 21 points with 2:29 left, and they went into halftime leading 43-26.
The Cats are clicking: While Northwestern’s three-point shooting got most of the attention, the Wildcats turned in an impressive defense performance, too. The Crusaders, who were without leading scorer Tevonn Walker and his 16.4 points per game, struggled to get anything going offensively for most of the night. Northwestern fought through screens rather than switching and harassed Valpo shooters into 38.5 percent shooting and came up with nine steals, leading to several easy baskets. Head coach Chris Collins said that he has been happy with the team’s defensive effort since the Wildcats were blown out by Texas Tech on Nov. 19. The Wildcats also shared the ball well against Valpo, picking up assists on 19 of their 28 baskets. The Wildcats have looked like the team most fans expected this season in their last several outings. They have now won three of their last four, beating Illinois and blowing out both Chicago State and Valparaiso, and playing well in a tough 74-69 road loss to Purdue. It took them a while, but Northwestern seems to have found its mojo.
