Northwestern
8-4
UIC
3-10
Team Stats
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
Blazing Start Leads Northwestern Past UIC, 63-46
12/22/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern opened the game on a 16-2 run as the Wildcats posted a 63-46 victory over UIC Monday afternoon at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Bryant McIntosh paced NU with a career-high 22 points while Alex Olah added 17 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. The Wildcats limited the Flames to 25 percent shooting (15-60) for the game, a season low for a Northwestern opponent.
UIC had no answer for Olah early on. The 7-foot center dominated the Flames inside with a pair of buckets before stepping outside to knock down a 3-pointer. The junior scored on another basket at the rim, giving him 9 points by the first media timeout.
All told, Northwestern scored 16 straight points to surge out to a huge early advantage. After making their first shot of the game, the Flames missed 13 consecutive shots from the field.
UIC connected on only 2 of its first 20 field goal attempts as the Wildcats held a 19-4 lead midway through the opening half.
NU's defense limited the Flames to 6-of-35 shooting overall in the first half (17.1 percent) in taking a 31-16 advantage into halftime. Olah and McIntosh paced the 'Cats with 10 first-half points apiece.
The Flames came out the aggressors to start the second half and closed to within 36-26 with 14:30 still remaining.
UIC continued to hang around with D'Juan Miller's 3-pointer closing the guests' deficit to 10 again, 45-35, with 7:35 left. After a pair of missed free throws by the Wildcats, a triple by Jason McClellan got the Flames within single digits for the first time since the opening stages of the contest.
However, McIntosh got the rim and scored on a layup before Olah made a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to 11. McClellan hit another trey to get UIC back within eight, but Sanjay Lumpkin answered with a top-of-the-key 3 to make it an 11-point game again.
McIntosh followed with two free throws before he scored on a layup to put the game out of reach and improve Northwestern to 8-4 on the season.
NU shot 53.7 percent (22-41) from the field and blocked nine UIC shots.
The Wildcats return to action at 2 p.m. Saturday when they wrap their homestand and nonconference play by taking on Northern Kentucky. Tickets are available at NUsports.com or by calling 888-GO-PURPLE.
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