Wesley Cardet Jr. scored a season-high 30 points, and Jahsean Corbett added 17 as visiting Chicago State pulled off a 75-73 upset victory over No. 25 Northwestern at Evanston, Ill.
Brent Davis and Noble Crawford each scored nine points for the Cougars (4-9), who were playing a power-conference team for the first time this season.
Boo Buie scored 23 points, and Ryan Langborg added 18 for the Wildcats (7-2), who were playing their first game of the season as a ranked team. Brooks Barnhizer scored 13 points for Northwestern, who last won at home as a ranked team in 1959.
In just their second game in 12 days, Northwestern committed 14 turnovers and went 13 of 20 from the free-throw line, while Chicago State went 19 of 22 from the line.
Northwestern led 67-65 with 2:30 remaining before Chicago State went on a 5-0 burst, capped by a 3-pointer from Cardet with 1:23 remaining to give the Cougars a 70-67 lead. The Wildcats closed the deficit to 70-69 with 1:04 left on a pair of free throws from Buie.
Buie missed a floater with 21 seconds remaining that would have given Northwestern the lead. Chicago State’s A.J. Neal made two free throws with 16.3 seconds left, and Ty Berry missed what would have been a game-tying 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining.
Chicago State went on an 8-0 run to open the second half and grab a 45-38 lead with 16:39 remaining. But the Cougars did not make a field goal over the next 6 1/2 minutes as the Wildcats turned an 18-4 run into a 56-49 lead with 10:44 remaining.
Chicago State stormed back on an 11-0 run to take a 65-61 lead with 4:35 remaining, as five points in the stretch came from Cardet on a 3-pointer and a dunk.
Northwestern took a 22-12 lead just over eight minutes into the game and still led by 10 points with eight minutes remaining in the first half before Chicago State closed the gap to trail 38-37 at halftime.
Chicago State defeated Northwestern for the first time in 16 all-time meetings.
–Field Level Media