National Basketball Association
Northwestern 77, Texas 58
When: 9:30 PM ET, Monday, November 21, 2016
Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
Officials:
# Clarence Armstrong, # John Gaffney, # Brian O'Connell
Attendance:
6780
By The Sports Xchange
NEW YORK -- For the first time in nearly three years, Northwestern knocked off a Top 25 team.
Bryant McIntosh scored 20 points to lead the Wildcats to a resounding 77-58 win over No. 22 Texas on Monday night in the Legends Classic at the Barclays Center.
Northwestern (3-1) will play Notre Dame (4-0) in the final on Tuesday. Texas (3-1) and Colorado (3-1) meet in the consolation game.
The last time Northwestern defeated a ranked opponent was Jan. 29, 2014, when it knocked off No. 14 Wisconsin, 65-56.
The signature win against Texas was more stunning as the Wildcats led by double digits for the entire second half. The Longhorns were on top for just 3:23 of the first half.
Northwestern's Scottie Lindsey added 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field, and Dererk Pardon scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Wildcats.
Tevin Mack paced Texas with 18 points.
The Longhorns shot 48 percent from the foul line and 37 percent from the floor. The Wildcats hit 81 percent of their free throws and 48 percent of their field-goal attempts.
After Northwestern's disappointing 70-68 buzzer-beater loss at Butler on Wednesday, Wildcats coach Chris Collins was concerned how his team would respond against a tenacious Texas team noted for its aggressive defense.
He got his answer quickly.
Northwestern opened the game on an 11-0 run en route to a 34-26 halftime lead.
"I'm really proud of my guys," Collins said. "After a very tough loss at Butler, teams can go either two ways -- into a tailspin or rally together and come back fighting, and there was never a doubt in my mind that our guys were going to keep fighting.
"And now we're excited to play for a championship, and that's a chance you don't get too many times in a season."
The Wildcats pushed their lead to 59-40 on a 3-pointer from Isiah Brown with 9:27 to play, their largest advantage to that point.
A flagrant foul was called on the Longhorns freshman center James Banks for throwing a punch during a scramble, and he was ejected with 11:54 left. McIntosh sank both free throws to put Northwestern ahead 54-36.
McIntosh did an exceptional job handling the ball against the Longhorns' pressure. He recorded five assists against only one turnover.
"I was just trying to stay patient, not get sped up and not try to do too much," he said. "I thought early on I was almost unaggressive, and my guys were challenging me to be a little more aggressive looking to score.
"Coach was on me a little bit, so it was just stay patient and just try and take care of the ball. I knew that if we can control the game and control the pace of the game, then that would give us a great opportunity to win the game."
Just as they did in the first half, the Wildcats opened the first 3:14 of the second half with a big outburst, going on a 10-1 run for a 44-27 cushion. Sanjay Lumpkin provided five points.
Northwestern closed out the first half on a 9-0 run to take a 34-26 advantage. Lindsey scored seven points in the spurt, finishing with 13 points in the half.
"I thought Northwestern did a great job of starting the game with aggressiveness," Texas coach Shaka Smart said. "They got that big lead.
"For us it's an experience that we need to learn from and grow. There's a lot of things that we're going to take from the tape that we can fix and do better with slight adjustments."
NOTES: Texas won the inaugural Legends Classic in 2007. ... This was the third meeting between the schools. Northwestern owns a 2-1 series lead. ... The Wildcats and Longhorns have one common opponent this season. Northwestern defeated Eastern Washington 86-72 on Nov. 14, and Texas beat Eastern Washington 85-52 three nights later. ... Northwestern won 20 games last season for the first time in school history. ... Wildcats sophomore F Vic Law missed all of last season with a shoulder injury. He leads the Wildcats in scoring this season, though he had just nine points Monday.
Top Game Performances
| Texas |
|
Northwestern |
|
Tevin Mack 18 |
Scoring |
Bryant McIntosh 20 |
|
Kerwin Roach Jr. 3 |
Assists |
Bryant McIntosh 5 |
|
Jarrett Allen 5 |
Rebounds |
Dererk Pardon 11 |
|
Tevin Mack 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Vic Law 4 |
|
Kerwin Roach Jr. 2 |
Steals |
Vic Law 2 |
|
James Banks 1 |
Blocks |
Dererk Pardon 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Texas
|
58 |
37.3 |
7-21 |
13-27 |
7 |
28 |
5 |
4 |
14 |
| Northwestern
|
77 |
48.2 |
10-24 |
13-16 |
14 |
36 |
4 |
5 |
11 |
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