EVANSTON, Ill. — As they cruised towards victory on Tuesday afternoon in their final non-conference game of the regular season, the 15th-ranked Wildcats put together one of the most striking statistical halves of basketball this season.
Committing just four turnovers while forcing Eastern Kentucky into 20 with the help of a newly tweaked three-quarter court press, and even amassing 18 offensive rebounds to a measly three for the Colonels, Northwestern took an ungodly 28 more shots than their opponents over the first 20 minutes, putting them on pace to set a full-game record in that category. But while the impressive rebounding diminished during a much more sedate second half, NU continued to accrue forced turnovers at a frantic pace, just as they have done all season.