By Brenda June Temple
12/13/2023
The Chicago State men’s basketball team earned one of the biggest wins in program history with a 75-73 upset win over No. 25 Northwestern Wednesday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston. The Cougars entered the contest 0-14 all time against Northwestern and were facing a Wildcats team which just entered the national rankings after beating then No. 1 Purdue 92-88 at home in overtime December 1. The victory was also the Cougars first over a ranked team in 18 attempts.
The Cougars trailed by just one at the half, 38-37, but jumped out to a seven-point lead to start the second half but then went on a six-minute scoring drought and Northwestern took advantage to turn the deficit into a seven-point lead. The Wildcats led by as many as eight but an 11-0 Cougars run put CSU back out front 65-61 with 4:35 remaining in regulation. Northwestern then went on a 6-0 run prompting a CSU timeout, and the Cougars came out of the break to tie and regain the lead on a Wesley Cardet dunk and three pointer and Chicago State would never trail again. NU cut the lead to one with just over a minute to play but A.J. Neal hit a pair of clutch free throws and, following an NU missed three, Noble Crawford converted a pair of free throws to put the Cougars up five with just 0:09 remaining to play.
Cardet led all players with 30 points on 13-of-21 shooting, including 3-of-9 from beyond the three-point line and Jahsean Corbett was the only other player in double figures for the Cougars with 17. As a team the Cougars forced the Wildcats into a season-high 14 turnovers and shot a season high 86.4 percent from the free throw line (19-of-22).
The Cougars will be back in action Saturday, December 16, on the road at Valparaiso with tip set for 3 p.m. at the Athletics-Recreation Center in Valparaiso, Indiana.
1st Half – Northwestern 38, Chicago State 37
-The teams exchanged hoops to open the game with hoops by Cameron Jernigan and Wesley Cardet before a Noble Crawford three put the Cougars out front 7-4 at the 17:26 mark
-Northwestern then went on a 10-2 run to jump out to a five-point lead, 14-9 with 14:21 remaining in the first half
-Following a Cardet three, the Wildcats went on a quick 8-0 run on their next three possessions to extend the lead to 10, 22-12, at the 12:10 mark
-Northwestern maintained the 10-point margin at the eight-minute mark when the Cougars went on a 7-1 run to cut the lead to four, 29-25, on hoops by Brent Davis, Cardet and A.J. Neal
-NU scored the next four points when Jahsean Corbett hit threes on back-to-back Cougars possessions along with a pair of free throws and a Noble Crawford dunk which capped Chicago State 10-0 run and CSU led 35-33 with 2:10 remaining until the end of the first half
-The Wildcats closed the half with a modest 5-2 run to take a one-point into the locker room at halftime, 38-37
2nd Half – Chicago State 38, Northwestern 35
-The Wildcats failed to score for the first four minutes of the second half and Chicago State took advantage with an 8-0 run on buckets by Cardet, Jernigan and Corbett along with a pair of Crawford free throws and the Cougars led by seven, 45-38, at the 16:39 mark of the second half
-At that point the Cougars went on a scoring drought of over six minutes with CSU’s only scoring coming from the free throw line from Davis and Corbett and the Wildcats turned a seven-point deficit into a seven-point lead, 56-49, at the 10:44 mark
-Despite the scoring struggles the Cougars used a layup and free throw to cut the margin to four, 56-52, with 10:16 remaining in regulation
-Northwestern answered with a bucket and two free throws to push the lead back to eight, 60-52, at the 8:52 mark
-Following a Cardet jumper, the Wildcats hit a free throw and the score was 61-54 when Davis and Cardet hit threes on back-to-back possessions followed by a Cardet dunk and pair of Davis free throws. A Corbett free throw capped an 11-0 Cougars run and Chicago State led 65-61 with 4:35 remaining in regulation
-The Wildcats stopped a five-minute field goal drought with a dunk at the 4:25 mark to cut the CSU lead to 65-63 at the 4:25 mark and extended the run to 6-0 to tie and take a 67-65 lead at the 2:30 mark
-The Cougars responded with a modest 5-0 run on a Cardet layup and three and CSU led buy three, 70-67, with 1:23 left to play
-Northwestern made a pair of free throws to cut the lead to one, 70-69, with 1:04 remaining and following a Wildcats miss with 0:21 left in regulation, A.J. Neal hit a pair of clutch free throws to put the Cougars lead back to three and, following another NU missed field goal, Crawford made another pair of free throws and Chicago State led by five, 74-69, with just nine second remaining
Chicago State 75, Northwestern 73
About Chicago State Athletics
Chicago State University Athletics is composed of 15 intercollegiate teams involving over 150 student-athletes that compete in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and volleyball. CSU held memberships in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and NCAA Division II before transitioning to NCAA Division I in 1994.
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