Northwestern 79, Texas Southern 49: Drew Crawford connected on his first eight shots and scored all 20 of his points in the first half as the host Wildcats cruised to victory in their season opener.

After finishing with 17 points in the teams' last meeting on Dec. 15, Crawford matched that total by drilling a 3-pointer with 4:42 left in the first half to give Northwestern a 33-9 advantage.

Kale Abrahamson scored 15 points off the bench and Reggie Hearn and Jared Swopshire added nine apiece for Northwestern (1-0), which emptied the bench for the majority of the second half.

Texas Southern (0-2) couldn't get on track in the first half, connecting on just 6-of-29 shots from the floor (20.7 percent) while committing seven turnovers.

After scoring 25 points in a season-opening loss to Boise State, Raymond Penn was held to 13 points on 4-of-15 shooting from the field for the Tigers.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Crawford misfired on a 3-point attempt with 2:57 left in the first half. The miss was his first from the floor, but the Wildcats held a 40-11 advantage. ... Northwestern freshman forward Sanjay Lumpkin is battling mononucleosis and will be sidelined for at least one week. ... Texas Southern, which shot 9-for-30 from 3-point range in the opener, connected on just 5-of-26 attempts (19.2 percent) on Tuesday.