Northwestern defense shines; Wildcats stymie DePaul 83-45

Dec 18, 2023, 05:39 am

EVANSTON, Ill. -- — Chase Audige scored a career-high 28 points and Northwestern hit 13 3-pointers in posting an 83-45 win over cross-town rival DePaul on Saturday afternoon.

The in-state rivals played for the first time since 2019. Northwestern leads the all-time series 22-14 and has won five of the last six meetings.

The Wildcats (8-2) came into the game boasting the seventh-ranked defense in the country at 56.8 points allowed per game and held the Blue Demons to almost a dozen points under that average. Northwestern took a 39-26 lead at the half and held DePaul to 19 second-half points, starting the second half with a 12-2 run to push its lead to 51-28 six minutes into the half.

Audige shot 11 of 19 from the field and hit 6 of 10 from 3-point range while making five steals. Boo Buie hit 4 of 12 from distance and added 17 points as Northwestern shot 29 of 67 from the field (43.3%) and hit 13 of 33 shots from beyond the arc. The Wildcats outrebounded DePaul 43-33.

Eral Penn and Philmon Gebrewhit each scored 11 points and Umoja Gibson added another 10 to lead DePaul (6-6). The Blue Devils were held to just 30.8% shooting from the field (16 of 52) and were 6 of 21 from distance.

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