NIU takes it to DePaul
By Tim Sassone Daily Herald Sports Writer
Posted Sunday, November 28, 2004

Joe Lewnard/Daily Herald

Northern Illinois beat up DePaul every way imaginable Saturday afternoon at the Allstate Arena.

The Huskies shot lights out, hitting 58 percent from the field, including 13 of 25 from beyond the 3-point line. They outrebounded the Blue Demons and outworked the hosts for much of the 40 minutes.

It added up to an easy 84-69 win for NIU, leaving coach Rob Judson elated and Blue Demons coach Dave Leitao searching for answers.

"I'm embarrassed for our program," Leitao said.

So dominant were the Huskies from just past the midpoint of the first half that they didn't even need a basket over the game's final 4:04 to win their first game of the season after losses to Loyola and Southwest Missouri State.

Five Huskies finished in double figures, led by Paige Paulson's 19 points. Todd Peterson and James Hughes each chipped in 15 points off the bench.

Peterson nailed 5 of 6 from 3-point range, 4 of them coming in a four-minute stretch in the second half to help NIU pull away. With Peterson feeling it, the Huskies kept running plays for him, and he didn't miss.

"You don't want to call it being in a zone, but Paige is the same way," Peterson said. "When you're hitting, you want the ball. I think any basketball player is like that."

Paulsen drilled three 3-pointers in the first half to help bring the Huskies back from 6 points down. NIU closed the half by outscoring DePaul 24-9.

"We shot the ball well, and these two guys (Paulsen and Peterson) really played with a lot of confidence," Judson said. "They played abandoned.

"We wanted to play with an abandoned attitude today and let our habits take over, let our attitude take over and let our team chemistry take over. If you look at the fact that we had 22 assists on 30 baskets, it bears that out. It was a great effort by our team."

Peterson, a 6-foot-8 junior forward from Pekin, didn't score a point in NIU's first two games.

"We ran a play for him to shoot a 3 on the very first play he came in, and he drove it," Judson said. "We've seen Todd get hot before, and when he does he can really stretch the defense. That allowed James and Johnathan (Byrd) to have a little room inside too."

Leitao said his team gave the Huskies too many good looks at the basket.

"They got open shots and got open shots for specific reasons," Leitao said. "Credit them for running a good offense, but it's the same offense I've seen the previous two games and they didn't get nearly as many open looks. Today, we gave them open looks, they made their first few, saw that nobody was defending them, and it gave them confidence to make the next one."

The Blue Demons shot miserably, frustrated much of the time by a swarming NIU zone defense. DePaul was 8 of 25 in the second half and shot 41 percent for the game.

The victory was NIU's first against DePaul at either Alumni Hall or the Allstate Arena after 14 losses. The Huskies were 0-8 at the Allstate Arena.

"When a team is able to come in here and get a victory, it's a special moment," Judson said.