PHOENIX — Boo Buie scored 22 points, Brooks Barnhizer added 16 and Northwestern used a dominating first half to beat Arizona State 65-46 on Wednesday night in the Jerry Colangelo Hall of Fame Series.
The matchup between former Duke teammates who are now head coaches turned quickly in the first half.
Chris Collins’ Wildcats (9-2) shook off a shaky start with runs of 13-2 and 16-2 to build a 23-point halftime lead. Northwestern handled Arizona State’s full-court press in the second half well for the most part and went 9 of 22 from the 3-point line to win its second straight since dropping out of the AP Top 25 last week.
The Sun Devils (6-5) have struggled offensively in their ninth season under Bobby Hurley, entering the game 295th nationally in adjusted field goal percentage.
It didn’t get any better in a woeful first half that put Arizona State in a hole it couldn’t recover from.
The Sun Devils had 13 points at halftime, shot 31% from the floor and went 3 of 18 from the 3-point arc to lose their third straight. Frankie Collins led Arizona State with 10 points.
Neither team could get shots to fall early, combining to miss 12 of the game’s first 15 shots — some wildly.
Northwestern started to find the mark about six minutes in, going on a 13-2 run. The Wildcats later scored seven straight and went up 34-12 with a 16-2 run.
Arizona State shot 5 of 26 from the floor and 2 of 13 from 3 in the first half, going without a field goal over the final 5:55. The Sun Devils couldn’t even hit free throws, going 1 for 5 from the line.
Arizona State played better offensive in the second half, but never got closer than 16 points.
UP NEXT
Northwestern: Hosts Jackson State on Dec. 29.
Arizona State: Opens its final Pac-12 season at Stanford on Dec. 29.
