Dererk Pardon wasn't supposed to be play this year. Chris Collins wanted to allow the freshman to develop this year, sitting behind veteran centers in seniors Alex Olah and Joey van Zegeren. But an Olah foot injury later and now Northwestern has what looks like a budding star on its hands.
Pardon led Northwestern to a 81-72 victory at Nebraska with 28 points and 12 rebounds as Northwestern won its Big Ten opener to move to 13-1 on the year. The freshman from Cleveland dominated the interior offensively scoring in a variety of ways including post-ups, put-backs and on the pick-and-roll.