EVANSTON, Illinois – Chase Audige scored 24 points, Boo Buie added 15 points and Northwestern beat Brown 63-58 for its fifth straight victory.
Audige and Buie combined for 23 of Northwestern’s 33 second-half points. But Audige and Buie both struggled from the field, going 12 of 33, and Northwestern shot just 34.5 per cent (20 of 58).
The Wildcats went 19 of 21 from the stripe, with 12 straight makes from Audige and Buie, to stay in front for the final 16 minutes, AP reported.
Northwestern (10-2) is off to its best start to a season since the 2016-17 team opened 12-2 before losing to top-seeded Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Northwestern defense continued to dominate opponents after entering ranked seventh nationally by holding teams to an average of 55.5 points per game. The Wildcats also entered third nationally in opponent field-goal percentage at 34.2, but Brown made 19 of 45 shots for 42.2%
The Bears were undone by 17 turnovers and going 11 of 22 from the stripe.
Ty Berry had 12 points and Matthew Nicholson grabbed 11 rebounds for Northwestern. Audige joined the 1,000-point club.
Kino Lilly Jr. scored 17 points and Paxson Wojcik had 13 points and eight rebounds for Brown (7-6), which had not played since defeating New Hampshire on Dec. 21.
The Wildcats concluded their nonconference portion of the regular season and host Ohio State on Jan. 1.
Elsewhere, Michigan State had four players score in double figures en route to take down previously unbeaten No. 4 Indiana 83-78.
Kamaria McDaniel had 24 points to lead the Spartans, Matilda Ekh and Taiyier Parks each had 18, and DeeDee Hagemann had 15 to go with eight assists.
Mackenzie Holmes had 32 points and 12 rebounds for No. 4 Indiana (12-1, 2-1 Big Ten), while Yarden Garzon added 17 points for the Hoosiers.
Michigan State (9-5, 1-2) led by as many as 11 points in the third quarter before Indiana rallied to tie the score at 60 in the fourth. The Spartans then retook the lead and held off the Hoosiers down the stretch.
The Spartans won their third game in a row despite Indiana hitting 58.5% of its shots from the floor. MSU shot 55.6% from the floor.
The contest was the only regular-season meeting between the teams.
