Northwestern University Athletics
Men's Hoops Takes on Dayton Dec. 5
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
December 4, 1998
Northwestern Wildcats (3-1) vs. Dayton Flyers (3-1)
Sat., Dec. 5, 1998 - 1 p.m. CST
Radio: WGN AM 720
Northwestern hopes to continue its winning ways this Saturday as the Cats host Dayton. NU is coming off its third-straight victory, a 62-55 decision over Furman last Saturday.
The Wildcats led from the outset as Sean Wink hit a three pointer just 10 seconds into the game. The lead swelled to 21-6 before Furman began to creep back into the game, cutting the deficit to 35-27 at halftime. For the second-straight game, freshman point guard David Newman came through in the clutch. His three pointer with 2:27 left gave NU a 56-50 lead. Newman also hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final 48 seconds of the game. He closed the contest with a career-best 22 points, including 5-of-9 from beyond the arc, and five rebounds.
Northwestern vs. Dayton: The Series
Northwestern and Dayton have met twice before, with the Flyers holding a 2-0 series lead. UD won the first meeting on Dec. 22, 1972 (73-66). The Flyers also earned a 77-69 victory last season in Dayton (Dec. 27, 1997).
Head Coach Kevin ONeill
Kevin ONeill (McGill, 1979) is in his second season at the helm of the Wildcat basketball program. This is his 11th season as head coach at the Division I level and 13th overall as a collegiate head coach. He also has served as head coach at North Country CC (1980-82), Marycrest (1982-83), Marquette (1989-94) and Tennessee (1994-97).
ONeill owns a 13-18 record at NU and a 153-138 record as a Division I head coach. Known as one of the best recruiters in the nation, ONeill resurrected the Marquette and Tennessee programs, taking two teams which had not enjoyed recent success to postseason play.
Top-Notch Defense
As of December 1, the Wildcats ranked second in the Big Ten in opponents field goal percentage (.354) and second in scoring defense (55.0). Since Kevin ONeill took over the helm of the Northwestern program, the Wildcats have held opponents to fewer than 70 points in 21 of 31 contests.
In last weeks win against Oakland, the Wildcats set a couple of defensive standards:
Eschmeyer Among Big Ten Leaders
Sixth-year center Evan Eschmeyer enters the week ranked second in the Big Ten in rebounds (9.0 rpg) and third in scoring (18.8 ppg). Last year, Eschmeyer led the Big Ten in rebounds, averaging 10.7 per contest. He enters the Dayton game with 32 career double-doubles and has scored in double figures 45-straight games.
This week, he was named one of 31 candidates for the Oscar Robertson Award, presented by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association to the national player of the year. Eschmeyer was one of four Big Ten players on the awards preseason list (Mateen Cleaves, A.J. Guyton, Michael Redd).
Watching Esch in the Record Books
Evan Eschmeyer enters the Dayton contest with 1,312 career points, good for ninth in NU history. He surpassed Dale Kelley (1,310 points from 1968-70) in last weeks win against Furman. With four more points, Eschmeyer will vault past Joe Ruklick (1,315 points from 1957-59) for eighth in school history. Rod Roberson (1,347 from 1978-81) is in seventh. Heres where Eschmeyer currently ranks among NUs all-time career leaders:
Category Eschmeyer Next Up FG Pct. 1st - .602 --- FT Attempts 2nd - 621 Cedric Neloms (676) FT Made 3rd - 374 Kevin Rankin (458) Blocked Shots 3rd - 92 Jim Pitts (123) Rebounds 5th - 739 Don Adams (773) Reb. Avg. 7th - 8.5 Ron Kozlicki (8.6) Scoring 9th - 1,312 Joe Ruklick (1,315) Scoring Avg. 9th - 15.1 Sibley/Ragelis (15.7)Attendance Moving Up
Through four games, the Wildcats have increased their attendance 31 percent over last season. NU has drawn 14,216 fans in four games this season, an average of 3,554 per game. Last year through four contests, 10,859 fans had come through the Welsh-Ryan Arena turnstiles.
Eschmeyer Preseason Honors
The following are some of the preseason honors gained by Wildcat center Evan Eschmeyer:
Wildcat Freshmen Stepping Up
They may not be flashy, but the Wildcats freshmen trio of Tavaras Hardy, Steve Lepore and David Newman certainly give NU fans definite hope for the future.
Hardy is establishing himself as a nice counter-option for Evan Eschmeyer. He is currently second on the team in scoring and also ranks among the Big Ten leaders in offensive rebounds.
Lepore is one of those players who you appreciate the more you watch him play. His stats appear modest at first glance (6.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg), but take a closer look and youll find Steve Lepores name among the Big Ten leaders in several different statistical categories (total rebounds, offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds, assists, and assist-to-turnover ratio).
Newman has been thrust into the role of a freshman point guard having to learn the college game on the fly. And, after two games, he ranks fourth among the Big Ten assist leaders (4.5 apg) and has a 2.0-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Newman Coming Through in the Clutch
Freshman point guard David Newman has made several clutch plays down the stretch of the past two games. Against St. Francis, Newman hit three pointers with 56 and 48 seconds left to tie the game at 66-66. He then followed his own missed shot on the games final possession, tipping the ball to Julian Bonner who hit the game-winning three pointer with 0.4 seconds left.
In the win against Furman, Newman hit a three pointer with 2:27 left to give NU a 56-50 lead. He also made 3-of-4 free throws in the final 48 seconds to help the Wildcats secure the victory.
Big Ten Stat Leaders
Here's where the Wildcats ranked among the Big Ten stat leaders as of December 3:
Individual
Scoring: Evan Eschmeyer - 4th (18.8 ppg)
Tavaras Hardy - 13th (13.5 ppg)
Rebounds: Evan Eschmeyer - t2nd (9.0 rpg)
Steve Lepore - t7th (7.0 rpg)
FG Pct.: Evan Eschmeyer - 5th (.651)
Assists: David Newman - 3rd (4.5 apg)
Steve Lepore - 5th (4.3 apg)
3pt Made: Sean Wink - t6th (2.5 tpg)
David Newman - t6th (2.5 tpg)
3pt Pct.: David Newman - t3rd (.500)
Blocks: Evan Eschmeyer - 5th (2.0 bpg)
Asst/TO ratio: David Newman - 3rd (2.00-to-1)
Steve Lepore - 8th (1.70-to-1)
Offensive Rebs: Evan Eschmeyer - 1st (4.3 orpg)
Steve Lepore - t4th (3.0 orpg)
Defensive Rebs: Evan Eschmeyer - 6th (4.8 drpg)
TeamAsst/TO ratio: 1st - 1.20-to-1 Assists: 2nd - 18.0 apg FG Pct. Defense: 2nd - .354 Scoring Defense: 2nd - 55.0 ppg 3pt made: 3rd - 7.3 tpg TO Margin: 4th (+2.25 pg) Rebound Margin: 6th (+4.3 rpg)Home Court Advantage
In Kevin ONeills first season as head coach, the Wildcats made Welsh-Ryan Arena a tough place to play. The Cats went 10-6 at home, the first time in a decade that NU had won 10 games in their own arena. That mark included a seven-game home winning streak.
Northwestern has a 13-7 home court record under ONeill, which is a marked improvement considering that, in the three seasons prior to ONeills arrival in Evanston, NU won just 14 home games.
NCAA Recognizes Wildcat Greats
In its recently-released book Mens Basketball Finest, the NCAA recognized three former Wildcat players and two former NU coaches. Wildcat All-Americans Otto Graham, Max Morris and Joe Reiff were among the 396 players chosen while Dutch Lonborg and Harold Olsen were among the 119 coaches to earn a place among the best in NCAA history.
Nationalism
Freshman guard Steve Lepore spent part of this past summer representing the United States at the Junior World Championship qualifying tournament in the Dominican Republic. He started all six games during the tournament, leading the USA to a perfect 6-0 record and the gold medal.
Lepore paced the team in three-point shooting, hitting 13-of-29 (.448) from beyond the arc, and was tied for the team lead with 11 steals. Lepore finished third on the team in scoring, averaging 12.8 points (in only 21 minutes) per game.
The Brothers Esch
For the second-straight season, the Wildcats will have two Eschmeyers on the team (Evan and Jeff). Last year was the first time that the duo was able to play together on the same team due to the fact they are four years apart in age. In fact, Jeff's first collegiate field goal (last year vs. Minnesota) came on an assist from Evan.
Letter-of-Intent Signees
During the November early signing period, the Wildcats signed five players to National Letters of Intent to begin playing basketball at NU next season:
Johnson (No. 60) and Blake (No. 95) are each ranked among the top 100 players in the country by Bob Gibbons. Deren was Southwest Iowa Player of the Year as a junior, while Jennings and Robinson were both named All-Americans this season by various publications.
Wildcats on the Air
Once again this season, WGN-AM 720 will be the radio home of Wildcat basketball. Dave Eanet handles the play-by-play chores while Joey Meyer will handle the color analysis. Every Wildcat game this season will be aired by WGN.
1998-99 Wildcat Schedule and Results
Record: 3-1
Date Opponent Time/Result
Tue., Nov. 17 MAINE L 57-69
Sat., Nov. 21 OAKLAND UNIVERSITY W 68-30
Wed., Nov. 25 ST. FRANCIS (N.Y.) W 69-66
Sat., Nov. 28 FURMAN W 62-55
Sat., Dec. 5 DAYTON 1 p.m.
Mon., Dec. 14 UW-MILWAUKEE 7 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 19 at Seton Hall 11 a.m.
Wed., Dec. 23 BOSTON COLLEGE 7 p.m.
Sun., Dec. 27 LONG BEACH STATE 1 p.m.
Sun., Jan. 3 IOWA (ESPN Regional) Noon
Wed., Jan. 6 at Minnesota (ESPN Regional) 7 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 9 at Illinois (WJYS-TV in Chi) 1:30 p.m.
Wed., Jan. 13 at Indiana (WJYS-TV in Chi) 5 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 16 WISCONSIN (ESPN) 11 a.m.
Wed., Jan. 20 PENN STATE (WJYS-TV in Chi) 6 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 23 TEXAS PAN-AMERICAN 7 p.m.
Wed., Jan. 27 PURDUE (WJYS-TV in Chi) 7 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 30 at Michigan State (WJYS-TV in Chi) 7 p.m.
Thu., Feb. 4 MICHIGAN (ESPN Regional) 7 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 6 at Penn State (WBBM-TV in Chi) 11:15 a.m.
Wed., Feb. 10 at Wisconsin (ESPN Regional) 7 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 13 INDIANA (WBBM-TV in Chicago) 1:30 p.m.
Wed., Feb. 17 ILLINOIS (WJYS-TV in Chicago) 7 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 20 at Ohio State (WJYS-TV in Chi) 11:15 a.m.
Wed., Feb. 24 at Iowa (television TBD) 7 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 27 MINNESOTA (WJYS-TV in Chi) 3:30 p.m.
Mar 4-7 at Big Ten Tournament TBA
(United Center, Chicago)
Home games in CAPS at Welsh-Ryan Arena. All times central.
Times and dates subject to change. All of NU's Big Ten games
(except Jan. 16 vs. Wisconsin) are televised by ESPN Regional.
Stations carrying the game will vary by market.
Location 1501 Central Street, Evanston, Ill. 60208
Enrollment 7,400 undergraduates
Colors Purple and White
President Henry S. Bienen
Athletic Director Rick Taylor
Home Arena (Capacity) Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117)
Season 94th, starting in 1904-05
Head Coach Kevin ONeill
Years as Head Coach 2nd at NU, 11th in Div. 1, 13th overall
Record at NU 13-18
Career Record (Division I only) 153-138
Overall Career Record (All Years) 173-159
1997-98 Record 10-17
1997-98 Big Ten Record/Finish 3-13 (t9th)
Letterwinners Returning/Lost 9/1
Starters Returning/Lost 4/1
Wildcat Probable Starters
Pos. No. Name (height, weight, class, hometown) ppg rpg F #33 Tavaras Hardy (6-8, 210, Fr., Joliet, Ill.) 13.5 5.3 F #14 Steve Lepore (6-5, 200, Fr., North Olmstead, Ohio) 6.0 7.0 C #42 Evan Eschmeyer (6-11, 255, Sr.-6, New Knxvll, Ohio) 18.8 9.0 G #22 Sean Wink (6-2, 176, So., Brea, Calif.) 8.0 2.3 G #24 David Newman (5-11, 165, Fr., Des Moines, Iowa) 10.3 3.0Off the bench
G #4 Julian Bonner (6-1, 198, Sr., Detroit, Mich.) 2.8 1.3 F #5 Joe Harmsen (6-9, 248, Sr., Fond du Lac, Wis.) 1.3 1.8 G #10 Matt Kammrath (6-0, 185, Jr., Boca Raton, Fla.) 0.0 0.0 F #11 Danny Allouche (6-5, 200, Sr., Omer, Israel) 1.3 2.0 G #23 Napoleon Harris (6-3, 230, So., Dixmoor, Ill.) 1.0 2.0 G #31 Nate Pomeday (6-2, 201, Sr., Cedar Grove, Wis.) 1.3 1.0 G #32 Collier Drayton (6-1, 175, Fr., Lyons, N.Y.) 0.0 3.0 C #35 Aron Molnar (6-11, 242, Jr., Mississauga, Ontario) 0.8 1.8 G #44 Jeff Eschmeyer (6-2, 192, So., New Knoxville, Ohio) 0.0 0.0
