Ho-hum…NU dumps another unbeaten

When I visited with Bill Carmody a few days before official practice began on Oct. 16, we chatted about a bunch of things including the Wildcats’ non-conference slate.

“I like the schedule,” he said. “I don’t like there’s a week there where you play in the (Chicago Invitational Challenge) on Sunday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday. That’s hard. And then Tuesday (at) N.C. State. It’s like, whoa.”

Whoa, indeed. Who knew the Wildcats would go 5-0 over this 10-day stretch…and Tennessee State would be its toughest opponent?

Northwestern just wrapped up a stellar stretch with tonight’s 65-53 win at N.C. State. In the space of five days, the Wildcats knocked off an unbeaten Big East team (Notre Dame), an unbeaten Big 12 team (Iowa State) and an unbeaten ACC team by a combined 28 points.

NU committed a slew of second-half turnovers to try to let the Wolfpack back into the game. But after NC State cut a 12-point margin to 4, Juice Thompson drilled a 3-pointer as he took over while Jeremy Nash (4 fouls) and John Shurna (1 second-half point) were neutralized. Thompson, who finished with a game-high 22 points, scored 10 of NU’s final 14 points.

Now Northwestern (6-1) gets a well-deserved rest as the team prepares for next week’s final exams. Here’s the Wildcats’ schedule leading up to the Big Ten opener on Dec. 30 at Illinois:

Dec. 13 vs. North Carolina A&T (3-5)
Dec. 16 vs. North Florida (1-4)
Dec. 19 vs. Stanford (4-3)
Dec. 22 vs. Central Connecticut State (1-3)

The Wildcats don’t play outside the state of Illinois until their Jan. 10 trip to Michigan.

LW