EVANSTON, Ill. -- Vic Law had a career-high 18 points, Scottie Lindsey added 17 and Northwestern opened its fourth season under coach Chris Collins with a 94-63 rout of Mississippi Valley State on Friday night.For Law, it was a triumphant return after all of last season following shoulder surgery. He played in all 32 games (19 starts) as a freshman two years ago.It gave me a new appreciation for the game, Law said. Last year ... when we lost a tough one, I would think about what I could have done to make a difference.Sanjay Lumpkin, Bryant McIntosh and Isiah Brown had 11 points apiece as the Wildcats won their ninth straight season opener. McIntosh, the teams leading returning scorer, was just 1 for 6 on 3-pointers.Law made 7 of 10 from the field -- including 3 of 4 on 3-pointers -- but was just 1 for 7 from the free-throw line.Marcus Romain led Mississippi Valley State with 16 points on 5-for-8 shooting.I didnt like the way we played defense at the start of the game, MVSU coach Andre Payne said. We got after it a little better in the second half, but that start set us back.Northwestern grabbed a double-digit lead 6 1/2 minutes into the game and never looked back. The lead was 46-28 at halftime and MVS never threatened in the second half.That first game of the season is very difficult from an emotional standpoint, Collins said. For us to come out and play the way we did early, I was very impressed.BIG PICTUREMississippi Valley State: The Delta Devils were 8-27 last season -- including a 6-12 mark in the SWAC -- and another long campaign seems likely. Romain, the second-leading scorer in the SWAC last season at 18.6 points, is a bright spot.Northwestern: Coming off a school-record 20 wins last season, the Wildcats begin with the goal of reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. To do so, theyll have to replace the leadership and production of Tre Demps, the leading-scorer last season at 15.7 points.THROW IT DOWNLaw announced his return with a steal in the backcourt and a flying dunk a few minutes into the game.I felt relief -- thats the emotion I felt, he said. It energized me for the rest of the game.BOUNCING BACKBrown, the heralded freshman from Seattle, was much better in the second half after playing just five first-half minutes from picking up two fouls. Hell be counted on as a spark off the bench to fill some of the void left by the departure of Demps.Hes the kind of guy that can change a game, Collins said of Brown. I think he was a real find for us.UP NEXTMississippi Valley State takes on a bigger challenge when it visits No. 20 West Virginia on Monday, the second of four road games to start the season.Northwestern has another tune-up game of sorts when it hosts Eastern Washington on Monday. EWU opened with a 70-47 win over Division III Linfield.. . Collaros, 25, was solid last season, posting a 5-2 record as the starter while incumbent Ricky Ray was injured. Collaros also started Torontos 23-20 regular-season finale loss to Montreal — Ray didnt dress because the Argos had already clinched first in the East Division — but was one of three quarterbacks to play that day. . Jason Zucker and Matt Cooke also scored for Minnesota, which has won five of six. Kuemper made five saves in the first, nine in the second, and nine in the third. The rookies best save came with 2:17 left in the third period when he denied former Wild forward Matt Cullen from just outside of the crease on the right side. . 10 Texas Rangers jersey for one last time. Young formally announced his retirement Friday after returning to Rangers Ballpark, his baseball home for all but the last of his 13 major league seasons. . The lawyers filed a 33-page amended complaint Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, expanding on the suit originally filed Oct. 3 in New York Supreme Court. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz last week refused to compel Selig to testify in the grievance, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing without testifying. . The judges scored it 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 for Jones (19-1). It was the champions closest call. Despite the loss, it was a remarkable show by the confident Swedish challenger, who had the best of the early rounds and then hung on in the fourth and fifth. LUBBOCK, Texas -- The last time West Virginia came to play at Texas Tech as a ranked team, the Mountaineers got trounced by 35 points.On Saturday, the Red Raiders will aim for a repeat of 2012, when they toppled the fifth-ranked Mountaineers. This year West Virginia is ranked No. 20 and unbeaten.Theyre a good team, Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said. Dana (Holgorsen) does a good job schematically week in week out to try to take advantage of what youre doing defensively.Holgorsen and Kingsbury met more than 15 years ago, when the Mountaineers coach worked for former Red Raiders coach Mike Leach and Kingsbury was the teams quarterback.Kliff knows what hes doing, Holgorsen said of the fourth-year coach. Hes going to get those guys ready to go and we have our work cut out for us on defense.The Mountaineers (4-0, 0-0 Big 12) have had two weeks to prepare, having a bye week after a 17-16 home win Oct. 1 over Kansas State. The Red Raiders (3-2, 1-1) are coming off a 44-38 loss to the Wildcats last week.At least Texas Tech doesnt have to be concerned about kicker Josh Lambert, who in 2014 hit a career-long, 55-yard field goal as time expired in Lubbock to give West Virginia a 37-34 victory. Holgorsen announced this week -- without explanation or further comment -- that Lambert, who missed the first three games due to a suspension, was no longer with the team.A few more things to look for when Texas Tech hosts West Virginia:MAHOMES AND HIS RECEIVERSJunior QB Patrick Mahomes, who leads the nation in passing yards per game (454.8), has plenty of receivers to pick from in the Red Raiders pass-heavy offense. Seven of them -- Jonathan Giles leads the league and the corps in receiving yards per game (122.8) -- have caught at least 11 passes for a combined 2,125 yards. Mahomes, who has passed for 20 TDs and run for seven more, has a great grasp of his offense, Mountaineers defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said. He understands getting rid of the ball, Gibson said.dddddddddddd He puts it in the right place at the right time. He lets his wideouts work for him, and when he wants to throw it over the top he can do that as well. He is so big, you have guys falling off of him, and he keeps plays alive.RUSHING MOUNTAINEERSWest Virginia, the Big 12s fifth-ranked rushing offense (187.2 ypg), will face the leagues sixth-ranked rushing defense (179.4 ypg). Junior RB Justin Crawford ranks fifth in the Big 12 with 331 yards on 60 carries, averaging 82.8 ypg. This year the Mountaineers have run the ball 52 percent of the time (164 of 315 plays). Kingsbury figures the Mountaineers will run the ball often. Last year they ran it, I think, 57 times versus us, he said. So Ive known hes been doing that the last three or four years.PENALTY PROBLEMSTexas Tech was flagged for five 15-yard penalties -- including one that erased a TD -- in its loss last week. It wasnt unusual, though. The Red Raiders rank 121st in the nation in penalty yards per game, having committed 48 penalties in five games to average 80.2 ypg. Weve really been stopping ourselves with penalties, making it third and 15, third and 20, and then thats a hard position to be in, WR Cameron Batson said. So we have to cut out the penalties and be more disciplined.RED ZONE FACEOFFTexas Tech is nearly twice as efficient in scoring touchdowns once inside the red zone than the Mountaineers. The Red Raiders have connected for TDs 26 of the 32 times theyve been there (81 percent), while West Virginia has found the end zone on just eight of 18 trips inside opponents 20-yard line (44 percent). The guys have to score, Holgorsen said. Were moving the ball. Were averaging a lot of yards. We have to score more, period.---Follow Betsy Blaney on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/betsyblaney---Online: AP College Football site:
http://collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '
