Northwestern 72, Eastern Illinois 55: Drew Crawford had a game-high 25 points in his return from an injury as the host Wildcats pulled away in the second half in the head-coaching debut of former Duke assistant coach Chris Collins.

Crawford went 8-of-14 from the floor and 5-of-7 from the 3-point line and pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds for Northwestern (1-0). Sanjay Lumpkin, JerShon Cobb and Dave Sobolewski each chipped in nine points.

Reggie Smith led Eastern Illinois (0-1) with 19 points. The Panthers were outrebounded 41-35 and shot just 30.2 percent from the floor.

Crawford had a pair of 3-pointers and had 12 points during a 21-3 run for an 18-point lead with 8:03 left in the first half. The Panthers ended the half on a 17-3 run - including 11 points from Smith - to cut Northwestern's advantage to 32-28 at halftime.

Crawford had two buckets as Northwestern opened the second half with a 7-0 run and Lumpkin capped another run with a 3-pointer to push the lead to 54-39 with 8:55 remaining. Lumpkin and Crawford added late 3-pointers to push the lead to 67-47 with 4:14 left.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Eastern Illinois missed its first 12 3-pointers and finished 2-of-18. ... It was the most points scored by Crawford, who had season-ending shoulder surgery after 10 games last year, since a 27-point performance in the 2012 NIT. ... Lumpkin went 3-of-3 from the 3-point line as the Wildcats hit 10-of-21.