Northwestern University Athletics
NU Will Meet Minnesota in Big Ten Tournament
3/9/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 9, 2003
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EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern had to wait longer than almost anyone else to learn its Big Ten Tournament fate this weekend, but when all the conference contests had been played the 10th-seeded Wildcats were paired with Minnesota in Thursday's first-round games.
The Gophers could have clinched the sixth seed with a win at Illinois Sunday afternoon, but fell to the Illini which allowed Indiana to jump ahead of them.
Northwestern (11-16, 3-13) and Minnesota (16-11, 8-8) will tip off at approximately 1:30 p.m. CST in the second of three first-round games at the United Center in Chicago. No. 8 Ohio State and No. 9 Iowa will begin the day at 11 a.m. CST, followed by the Wildcats and the Gophers. The final game Thursday will pit the sixth-seeded Hoosiers against 11th-seeded Penn State, which knocked off Indiana Saturday night.
Northwestern's game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.
This will be the second year in a row Northwestern has played in the 7-10 game; last year the Wildcats were the seventh seed but fell to No. 10 seed Michigan 72-51. In fact, in the five-year history of the tournament the 10th seed has won this game three times -- Wisconsin beat Penn State in 1998 (52-51) and Michigan defeated Purdue in 1999 (79-73).
This will also be the second time NU and Minnesota have met in the Big Ten Tournament. The last time these two squared off in this event was in its inaugural year, 1998, when the eighth-seeded Gophers knocked off the ninth-seeded Wildcats 64-56.
Minnesota swept the regular-season series, defeating NU 74-57 in Minneapolis on Jan. 25 and then 73-61 in Evanston on Feb. 19. In that game, NU was down by 27 early in the second half but cut it all the way to five before the Gophers were able to pull away at the end.
Wisconsin is the top seed in this event for the second year in a row after winning the regular-season title outright. They receive a bye into Friday's quarterfinal round along with No. 2 Illinois, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Purdue and No. 5 Michigan State. The winner of Thursday's NU-Minnesota game will take on Illinois at 5:40 p.m. CST Friday.
