Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Penn State
Northwestern Pulls Away To Defeat Penn St., 65-52
2/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb 14, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) - In front of a national television audience Saturday afternoon, the Northwestern men's basketball team showed why there is a buzz around Chicago and the Big Ten about them.
Senior Jitim Young and sophomore Vedran Vukusic scored 17 points each as the Wildcats beat Penn State 65-52, their third straight win in a late-season surge.
A sluggish first half -- one that was reminiscent of the team's performance in State College a few weeks ago, when the Nittany Lions nipped them in overtime -- was overwhelmed at the start of the second half, when the 'Cats went wild with a 30-2 run. That made the score 53-27, and Penn State was effectively finished for the day.
Northwestern (11-11) has a 6-5 record in the Big Ten, its best conference mark this late in the season since the 1999 team was 6-5, and is locked in a four-way tie for fourth place in the conference standings. Perhaps just as important, the 'Cats have this week off before they finish the campaign with their final five games, three of which are at home. They will not be in action again until next Saturday, when they are at Michigan State.
The game was stopped for several minutes in the second half when Northwestern sophomore guard Evan Seacat fell to the floor near midcourt after running into a screen set by 7-foot center Jan Jagla. After the collision, Seacat was motionless while a fight for possession of the ball was going on. Once possession was established, officials stopped the game and Seacat was treated by team trainers.
About 10 minutes later, Seacat was taken off the floor on a stretcher and brought to Evanston Hospital with what appeared to be a possible concussion, according to a Northwestern spokesman. Seacat was moving his extremities but expected to stay overnight for observation.
"He was feeling some pain in his neck, so they took him to hospital to observe him," said head coach Bill Carmody, who got his 50th win at Northwestern today. "I don't know exactly how it happened; even Jitim didn't realize Evan was on the ground when we went into the timeout."
After trailing 25-23 at half, the Wildcats opened the second half by outscoring Penn State 30-2. Davor Duvancic started it with a three-point basket, and Penn State did not score until 4:40 had elapsed in the second half.
"I did not get emotional at halftime," said Carmody. "Sometimes I do, but I thought we had some nervous energy and a few missed breaks that we did not convert. I did not think it was from not trying, but from being too excited. I actually tried to calm them down -- we were doing okay. In the second half, our defense was very good, and on the fast break we were making the right choices. T.J., Mohamed and Jitim seemed to make the right choices and our big men were getting out on the break."
Northwestern highlighted the run with great passing, including a sequence where Mohamed Hachad had a behind-the-back pass to Duvancic and Duvancic kicked it out to Vedran Vukusic for a trey, which extended Northwestern's lead to 52-27 with 11:36 left in the game and sent the Welsh-Ryan faithful into a frenzy.
"I like behind-the-back passes, if that is the right pass," said Carmody. "It is not necessarily a completion so much as there is open space, and he is going one way and everyone else is going that way, too. I would encourage that in a lot of ways. It was fun to watch, I know that."
Hachad finished with 16 points and five steals.
Northwestern guard T.J. Parker left the game for several minutes after being knocked down by a screen from Jagla, just minutes before Seacat was floored. Parker was treated by team trainers and returned. He finished with eight points as his older brother, Tony -- the starting point guard for the San Antonio Spurs -- watched from the stands.
Jagla led Penn State (9-12, 3-7) with 16 points and 10 rebounds off the bench and Marlon Smith added 10.
Penn State led 25-23 at the half, both teams struggled offensively in the first half. Northwestern shot 41 percent in that stanza, while the Nittany Lions shot 36 percent.
