Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Hope to Weather Pirates
12/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 17, 2004
NU-Seton Hall Game Notes in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. - For the second time in four days, Northwestern takes on a team that experienced postseason success a year ago. Like DePaul -- whom the Wildcats defeated, 56-52, Wednesday night -- Seton Hall arrives at Welsh-Ryan Arena Saturday coming off a season that saw the Pirates advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Northwestern vs. Seton Hall
Saturday, Dec. 18 * 1 p.m. Central
TV: None
Radio: WGN 720 AM and XM Satellite Radio 187 (Dave Eanet, play-by-play; Shon Morris, analyst)
This game is the second in a tough stretch that sees Northwestern playing three games against major-conference teams in a six-night span. On Monday night, the Wildcats are at Arizona State in a game that will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net Arizona (Fox Sports Chicago will pick up the feed and also air the game live in the Chicagoland area).
"This three-game stretch is almost like being in Big Ten play -- you have three major-conference teams that have NCAA experience, like a lot of the teams in our league," said NU head coach Bill Carmody. "But this is a chance to play good teams and prove whether or not we are going to be good, too. To do that, we need to win."
The first step toward that goal was a success, as the Wildcats overcame a late seven-point deficit to knock off the Blue Demons. The game took on added significance because it was the debut of former McDonald's High School All-America Mike Thompson. The 6-foot-10 junior center -- a transfer from Duke -- took exactly 11 seconds to score his first points for Northwestern, and ended the night with 12 points and five rebounds. Perhaps most impressively, he did not have a foul in 32 minutes of play.
"Mike played better than I thought he would," noted Carmody. "He stayed out of foul trouble, which was very important. Now, we need to work on the interaction between all the guys; I felt like there were times the guys started standing around watching him when he got the ball on the block. They still need to move on offense."
Did You Know?
Junior forward Vedran Vukusic has hit 20 foul shots in a row, the longest streak by an NU player in the Bill Carmody era. Vukusic is 22-of-24 (.917) from the charity stripe this season and leads the Big Ten in free-throw percentage.
The Series With Seton Hall
• This will be the fifth meeting between the Wildcats and the Pirates in men's basketball, with each team having won twice in the series.
• All four meetings happened in consecutive seasons, from 1995-96 to 1998-99.
• Seton Hall won the last meeting, taking a 63-52 decision at Continental Airlines Arena on Dec. 19, 1998.
• NU has won both meetings here in Evanston, downing SHU 73-63 on Dec. 8, 1996 and 51-44 on Dec. 13, 1997.
NU vs. THE BIG EAST
The Wildcats enter the game with a 43-81-1 all-time record against the 12 schools that currently play in the Big East (87 of those 125 games came vs. Notre Dame). NU's only other game against a Big East team under Bill Carmody came last year, when the 'Cats lost to Rutgers 80-75 at the Sierra Providence SunClassic in El Paso, Texas.
Boston College 2-2
Rutgers 4-1
Connecticut 0-0
St. John's 1-1
Georgetown 0-0
Seton Hall 2-2
Notre Dame 23-63-1
Syracuse 0-1
Pittsburgh 10-8
Villanova 0-0
Providence 0-2
West Virginia 1-1
