NIT Tournament: Washington Buries Northwestern

The Washington Huskies were able to cruise past Northwestern on their way to Madison Square Garden. The big win was behind the hot shooting of Terrence Ross and CJ Wilcox.

Ross had a career scoring day with 32 points and most of that was behind the arch. He went 6-14 from deep.

The zone defense that Northwestern was hoping would slow down the Huskies only elevated deep threats of Ross and Wilcox. Wilcox had 20 points and was 4-9 from three.

This game was close in the first half and most of it was in control by the Wildcats. However, in the second half Washington Coach Lorenzo Romar changed the way they attacked the zone of Northwestern and things were blown wide open by the Huskies. They led by as much as 22 points and ended the game just shy of that at 76-55. This is a game that many are calling the Huskies best of the season.

They will now stay at home for a chance to play at Madison Square Garden in a matchup of the winner between Oregon and Iowa on Sunday.

Player Notes: 

Abdul Gaddy- Had an impressive game dishing out assists as he had 7 of them. He also was able to score 5 points and pick up 4 rebounds. It was a classic Gaddy performance.

Tony Wroten- Added to what he did in the last NIT game, he went for setting up his opponents and only scoring when he felt he had the shot or the lane. He had 2 points, 7 assists, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks. He had a few highlight reel plays on the defensive end and a couple alley-oop passes to Ross on the offensive end.

Terrence Ross- He was covered above but it was a career performance. It would be hard to imagine him not going to the NBA or at least flirting with that idea.

CJ Wilcox- He was also mentioned above. He created space for his teammates and was able to get open shots. He even had a few moments where he created his own shot.

Darnell Gant- Didn’t have that impressive night, statistically. He was 0-5 from the field. He was able to pick up 4 rebounds but other than that he mainly helped his team by giving leadership (player coach).

Aziz N’Diaye- Started off the game hot for the Huskies. He even had the ESPNU announcers saying that he had great hands, therefore, it must have been an impressive night. He had 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals.

Desmond Simmons- Had a few plays where he really showed off his offensive ability. However, most of the game he did what he normally does, play hard. He had 4 points and 2 rebounds.

Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Shawn Kemp Jr., Hikeem Stewart, and Martin Breunig- all came in at the end of the game and contributed some solid minutes at the end of the game. The highlight from this group was when Breunig threw down a posterizing jam on a Northwestern defender.