Northwestern University Athletics
'Cats Battle Cross-town Rival DePaul Tuesday Night
11/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Nov. 14, 2006 - 7 p.m. CT
Northwestern (0-1) vs. DePaul (0-1)
Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117)
Evanston, Ill.
The Broadcasts
Radio -- WGN 720 AM, the flagship station of Northwestern men's basketball (Dave Eanet, play-by-play; Dave Kaplan analyst) & WNUR (89.3 FM)
Television -- None
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern plays host to cross-town rival DePaul Tuesday night in the 27th meeting between the two schools. Both teams are 0-1 on the young season as the Wildcats dropped their opener to Cornell 64-61 Friday night while the Blue Demons fell on the road at Bradley 78-58 on Saturday.
The Wildcats showed a lot of new faces in their season opener Friday. Five Wildcats scored in double figures, including freshman Kevin Coble's 10 points and seven rebounds. Senior Tim Doyle led the way with 11 points and eight assists while transfer Jason Okrzesik scored 11 off the bench in his first game in the purple and white.
DePaul is led by senior Sammy Mejia and Wilson Chandler who scored 18 and 12 points, respectively in Saturday's loss. They return four starters and nine letterwinners from last year's 12-15 squad.
Tuesday's game is the 27th meeting between the two schools, with DePaul owning a 18-8 lead in the all-time series. DePaul won last year's meeting 59-49 at AllState Arena. The Wildcats won the last meeting in Evanston two years ago 56-52 and are 7-5 vs. DePaul at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
About DePaul
Jerry Wainwright is in his second season as the head man at DePaul. During his 12-year tenure as a head coach, Wainwright has taken his teams to six postseason tournaments including three NCAA berths and three NIT appearances. In his first season at the helm of the Blue Demons in 2005-06, Wainwright inherited the youngest DePaul squad in seven years and guided it through the eighth-toughest schedule (according to Basketball Times) in the nation, including the program's initial season as a member of the BIG EAST Conference and finished with a 12-15 record.
The Blue Demons were picked eighth in the 16-member BIG EAST conference this season. They return nine letterwinners and four starters from last year's team that went 12-15 and 5-11 in conference play.
DePaul is 0-1 on the young season after dropping its opener on the road at Bradley over the weekend, 78-58. Senior Sammy Mejia led the Blue Demons with 18 points while sophomore Wilson Chandler chipped in with 12.
Last Time Out
Five Wildcats scored in double figures, but it wasn't enough to fend off Cornell Friday as the Wildcats dropped a 64-61 decision to the Big Red in front of 3,502 people at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tim Doyle, Sterling Williams and Jason Okrzesik led NU with 11 points while freshman Kevin Coble and senior Vince Scott chipped in with 10 each. The game was evenly played throughout with 10 lead changes. But Cornell made the big shots down the stretch to enable them to come away with the win. Sophomore Craig Moore had a chance to tie the game at the end, but his 3-pointer from the right corner rimmed out. Earlier Moore connected on a deep three from the left wing to cut the Cornell lead to 60-58 with 1:19 to play. After the Big Red extended its lead back to four, Moore was fouled on a three-pointer and made all three free throws to cut the lead to one with 10 second left. Two Cornell free throws set up then set up Moore's 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
Newcomers Shine in Debut
In their first outings wearing the purple and white, freshman Kevin Coble and junior transfer Jason Okrzesik impressed. Coble recorded 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting with one 3-pointer to go along with seven rebounds while Okrzesik provided a spark off the bench, sinking 3-of-5 3-pointers for 11 points. Sophomore Sterling Williams had 11 points and seven rebounds.
This is by far one of the youngest teams head coach Bill Carmody has coached in his career. In his first season in Evanston in 2000-01 he had seven freshmen and zero seniors. This year he has six freshmen, four sophomores and two junior-eligible players who did not see action last season.
Doyle Sets Two Career Highs
Tim Doyle recorded new career highs with eight assists and seven rebounds in the game against Cornell. He played the entire 40 minutes and tallied 11 points.
Last Time vs. DePaul
Vedran Vukusic had 22 points for the Wildcats on 9-of-16 shooting, the only Wildcat in double-figures as NU lost 59-49 at AllState Arena. The Blue Demons had three hit double figures, led by Kerron Clarke's 15 points and 10 rebounds. Missed shots and second chance points for DePaul ultimately did the Wildcats in as the Blue Demons grabbed 10 offensive rebounds which led to 13 points. DePaul outrebounded the Wildcats 35-22 overall and had 10 offensive boards to five for Northwestern.
Head Coach Bill Carmody
Though it sometimes gets overlooked, head cocah Bill Carmody has turned Northwestern into a consistent winner. During the past six years under Carmody the Wildcats have won 82 games, the best six-year win total in the program's history. Northwestern has won at least 11 games in all of Carmody's seasons--a program first--and the first time the 'Cats have reached double figures in the win column six straight seasons since 1938.
