Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Faces Intra-City Rival DePaul Saturday
11/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 16, 2007
NU Men's Basketball Game Notes vs. DePaul 
Listen to the free audio broadcast on NUSports.com
EVANSTON, Ill. -
Northwestern's men's basketball team makes the short trip to Allstate Arena as it takes on local rival DePaul at 1 p.m. Saturday. The contest can be heard live on NUsports.com.
Both teams will be shooting for their first win of the season as each squad dropped its opener. The Blue Demons will be playing their first game in eight days after falling 74-62 at Creighton last Friday. Meanwhile, the Wildcats hung tight with No. 20 Stanford Thursday before losing 71-60 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Freshman point guard Michael Thompson scored a team-high 16 points, all in the second half, for the Wildcats in their season opener. It was the most points by a NU player in his collegiate debut since Vedran Vukusic also scored 16 points in a 78-73 win over Virginia Commonwealth Nov. 14, 2001. Current Northwestern assistant coach Tavaras Hardy tallied 16 in his first college game against Maine Nov. 17, 1998.
Including the team's exhibition game against University of Chicago, Thompson is averaging 15 points per game and has nine assists without a turnover in 69 minutes of action.
Series History: DePaul leads, 18-8. The Wildcats and the Blue Demons have played one another each of the past four seasons with both teams winning twice on their home court.
Last Meeting: Craig Moore scored a team-high 10 points, including hitting a key 3-pointer, as the Wildcats downed the Blue Demons Nov. 14, 2006 in Evanston. Kevin Coble added nine points and was awarded the Waldo Fisher-Frank McGrath Award as the MVP of the contest.
Last Time Out
Northwestern rallied back from a 13-point second-half deficit to tie the score, but No. 20 Stanford made just enough plays down the stretch to hand the Wildcats a 71-60 defeat in their home opener at Welsh-Ryan Arena Thursday evening. Freshman point guard Michael Thompson scored all of his team-high 16 points in the second half for the Wildcats. NU trailed 42-29 when Thompson had six points to spark a 15-2 run and the Wildcats roared back to tie it on Jason Okrzesik's 3-pointer with 9:50 to go. Stanford built the lead back to 53-44. Northwestern chopped the deficit back to three, but Landy Fields sank a 3-pointer and the Cardinal ran out the victory at the line. The Cardinal finished the contest with a 45-24 rebounding advantage. Anthony Goods scored a game-high 19 points for Stanford with Fields adding 16.
Scouting DePaul
• The Blue Demons led Creighton 38-32 at the half in their season-opener Nov. 9, but were out-scored 42-24 in the second half en route to a 74-62 loss in Omaha. Will Walker came off the bench to lead DePaul with 13 points. The Blue Demons shot 57 percent from the field in the first half, but just 31 percent in the second half.
• DePaul posted a 20-14 overall record a year ago, including a 9-7 mark in the Big East. The Blue Demons advanced the quarterfinal round of the NIT, defeating Hofstra and Kansas State before falling by one at Air Force.
• Senior guard Drelon Burns was an honorable mention All-Big East pick last season after averaging 11.6 points per game. The Blue Demons return eight letterwinners and three starters overall from last year's squad.
• Jerry Wainwright is in his third season as the head coach at DePaul. He enters Saturday's game with a 32-30 record with the Blue Demons. Prior to coming to DePaul, Wainwright spent three seasons as the head coach at Richmond and headed UNC Wilmington for eight seasons before that. He owns a 218-174 career record as a head coach.
Up Next...
Northwestern returns home Tuesday to take on Division III opponent Benedictine (Ill.) at 7 p.m. The game can be seen on BigTenNetwork.com.
