JS Online: Stevie Wonder! www.jsonline.com Return to regular view Original URL: http://www.jsonline.com/sports/marq/jan06/382590.asp Stevie Wonder! Novak helps MU slay a giant in Big East debut By TODD ROSIAK
[email protected] Posted: Jan. 3, 2006 Now that's what Tom Crean was talking about. On Steve Novak's case ever since he set foot on Marquette University's campus to unleash that silky stroke at any and every opportunity, the Golden Eagles coach sat MU Basketball back Tuesday and watched his senior forward single-handedly dismantle the second- ranked team in the country with a shooting night for the ages. With the lights at their brightest as MU played its first game in the Big East Conference, the 6-foot-10 Brown Deer native hit shots from every conceivable distance and angle on Al McGuire Court at the Bradley Center, finishing with a personal-high 41 points to lead the Golden Eagles to a stunningly easy, 94-79 victory over the Connecticut Huskies. Sending the crowd of 15,831 into a frenzy with each successive shot, Novak drained 12 of 20 overall and 6 of 13 from three-point range despite Huskies coach Jim Calhoun running a who's who of defenders - 6-11 Hilton Armstrong, 6-10 Josh Boone, 6-9 Rudy Gay and 6-5 Rashad Anderson - at him all game long. Photo/Rick Wood Throw in his collegiate-high 16 rebounds and Novak's night was record-breaking not Steve Novak hits one of only in MU lore but also in the long and storied history of the Big East.