EVANSTON-Northwestern didn’t shoot or rebound much better than Eastern Illinois did in the season opener on Tuesday night.

Defense and turnovers were the difference in the Wildcats’ 80-56 victory in front of a quiet and sparse crowd at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

EIU turned the ball over 19 times, while the Wildcats had just five. As a result, the Cats got 17 more shots than the Panthers and had a 23-8 advantage in points off turnovers to coast to the win.

Head coach Chris Collins said he was happy with a Wildcat defense that picked up 16 steals, the most for the program since Dec. 20, 2007. Boo Buie and Robbie Beran led the way with five apiece.

“I’m proud of our effort. I thought we played really hard,” he said. “Our activity was good on the defensive end.”

Buie had 17 points and six assists to lead the Wildcats and didn’t turn the ball over once. Pete Nance and Ty Berry each scored 13 points, while Ryan Young paced the Cats with seven rebounds.

Jermaine Hamlin led EIU with 10 points and was the only Panther in double figures. He also had a team-best seven boards.

Northwestern got off to a slow start in a sleepy arena. The Wildcats worked their offense through Nance early, and the senior big man got good looks but missed his first three shots as they quickly fell behind 5-0.

But the Wildcats soon got their running game going and found their rhythm to overtake the undersized Panthers. Berry hit a 3-pointer for NU’s first basket of the season, and Nance’s shots started falling as he hit his next four in a row.

Berry came up with a steal and fed Casey Simmons for a fast-break layup to give the Wildcats a seemingly commanding 27-12 lead at the halfway point of the first half.

But as quickly as the lead was built, it started slipping away. Northwestern got a little sloppy, with a couple turnovers, eight straight missed shots and a few defensive lapses. After EIU’s CJ Lane hit a corner 3, the Wildcats lead was down to 34-25.

The Panthers eventually got the Wildcats’ lead down to 8 before Boo Buie hit a 3-pointer for Northwestern’s first basket in almost four minutes.

The Wildcats held a 40-29 advantage at the half but it didn’t take them long to retake command in the second period. Nance and Berry each hit 3-pointers as the Cats went on an 8-0 tear in less than a one-minute span to push their lead to 50-33 at the 16:48 mark and force the Panthers to take a timeout.

The lead increased to 23 after a nifty Elyjah Williams drop-step layup, and after EIU whittled the lead down to 16, the Wildcats got it back up to 27 on a Buie jumper.

Northwestern had just a 40-38 advantage in rebounds, but 13 of them came on the offensive end, leading to 15 second-chance points.

Overall, Collins was satisfied with his team’s performance. They got the win and they still have plenty of things to work on.

“It was a good night for us, but we can play much better,” he said.