NCAA News: Northwestern sweeps pair of tough high-major road games, moves to 3-0

NU sweeps tough road games

“Who makes the schedule around here? I need to talk with them,” Northwestern Wildcats head coach Joe McKeown joked, shortly after his team cruised to a season-opening win over Loyola-Maryland in Evanston, Ill., last Sunday. The road ahead at that time appeared treacherous, with back-to-back road dates at Marquette and Duke looming in the week to come.

Marquette finished 27-8 last season, and was just three points shy of advancing past Texas A&M to the Sweet 16. Duke is coming off a 15-15 campaign, but very few teams would sign up to travel cross-country to play an ACC team, especially so soon after a battle with the Golden Eagles.

So, of course, the Wildcats went ahead and beat both of them.

With a 64-56 overtime win over Marquette on Thursday, followed by a 63-42 blowout against Duke today, Northwestern turned heads across the country and sent a strong message that they aim to do some serious damage this season. Waxing hyperbolic about early non-conference results is a yearly tradition, but the way the ‘Cats have been able to start the season so hot without once shooting over 40% as a team speaks volumes for both their ability, and potential to get even better.

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On Thursday night, NU took a short trip up I-94 to square off with Marquette in Milwaukee. Finding a consistent offensive rhythm remained an issue early on, but defense is McKeown’s calling card. Thus, NU led 25-17 at the break. The Golden Eagles started to find their buckets in the third quarter, cutting that lead to 36-32, then really turned on the jets (to scale in a low-scoring affair) in the fourth, eventually grabbing a 51-49 lead with 2:37 remaining.

Three missed shots and three turnovers between the teams followed, bleeding down most of the clock and keeping the score idle. NU had the final possession of regulation with one more shot to stay alive or win, and the Golden Eagles deflected a pass out of bounds in the waning seconds. But this was a fortuitous bounce. After the ensuing inbounds, Veronica Burton sunk a short jumper in the lane with four seconds left to tie the game at 51, which eventually sent the game to overtime.

Star guard and top-scorer Lindsey Pulliam had been quiet for the ‘Cats in regulation, scoring just 10 points on 3-for-13 shooting. So, of course, she scored the first eight points of overtime for either team, giving NU more than enough of a cushion to put Marquette away. Abbie Wolf and Sydney Wood continued to provide consistency on the boards, with 10 and 11, respectively. And despite losing the rebounding battle by one, NU won the points in the paint battle 36-26, continuing to provide resounding answers to the “how do you replace Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah?” question.

A little over 48 hours later, the ‘Cats found themselves in Cameron Indoor Stadium, tasked with taking on another high-major opponent. And there’s just no other way to put this: it was a weird one.

NU jumped out to an early 9-0 lead, and extended that to 19-9 at one point in the first. Then, the scoring drought bug the ‘Cats were able to swat away in their season opener showed itself again. The Blue Devils responded with an 18-6 run after trailing by 10, knotting the score at 25 at the halftime buzzer. The ‘Cats, who shot 20% as a team in the second quarter, didn’t score a point in until seven minutes of it had passed.

Then, as they’ve shown the ability to do many times this season already, the ‘Cats flipped the script. In the third quarter, they outscored their hosts 29-4. There is no need to adjust your monitor or fetch your reading glasses, you read that correctly. NU shot 59% to Duke’s 11% for the period, holding the Blue Devils to their lowest third quarter scoring mark in program history (that may not be saying much, as women’s college basketball only started playing with quarters in 2015, but it’s nonetheless pretty wild).

The ‘Cats simply could not miss, especially from long range, where they hit 5-of-6 shots during the third. Two of those threes came from Lauryn Satterwhite, who tallied a career high with six points and before today had only seen the court for 15 minutes or more once in her college career. Just a very weird day, overall. When the dust cleared and the third quarter ended, it was a rout. NU eased off the gas in the fourth and took home its second straight huge road win.

Pulliam, per usual and per always, led the charge with 26 points on an efficient 10-for-20 shooting (with five rebounds and two assists), and Wolf chipped in 10 with a team-leading seven rebounds.

The schedule eases briefly for the ‘Cats, who will play host to Valparaiso this Thursday and Colgate (who has started 4-0) the following Wednesday, before local rival DePaul comes up to Evanston two weeks from today.

By the afternoon of Dec. 1 when they square off, the two schools separated by fewer than 10 miles of Chicagoland shoreline may both be ranked. Like many games Northwestern will play in this season, it should prove to be must-see TV.

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