Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Takes to the Road Wednesday at Iowa
2/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2007
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Feb. 14, 2007 -- 7 p.m. CT
Northwestern (12-12, 2-9) at Iowa (14-11, 6-5)
Carver-Hawkeye Arena (15,500)
Iowa City, Iowa
Radio -- WGN 720 AM (Dave Eanet and Bob Hildebrand)
Television -- ESPN Plus Local, WWME in Chicago (Larry Morgan and Shon Morris)
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern (12-12, 2-9) picked up a much needed win on Saturday against Penn State and will now shift its attention to the Iowa Hawkeyes (14-11, 6-5) when the team travels to Iowa City for a 7 p.m. tip Wednesday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Northwestern has had its share of success against Iowa of late, winning four of the last five meetings. Its last victory in Iowa City was in 2004.
Freshman Kevin Coble is making a strong case for Big Ten All-Freshmen honors this season and leads the team with 12.7 ppg--third best among Big Ten freshmen.
Iowa had its three-game win streak snapped Saturday at Wisconsin, a game much closer than the final score indicated. Adam Haluska, the Big Ten's leading scorer at 20.8 ppg, led the Hawkeyes with 16 points and six rebounds in the defeat. Freshman Tyler Smith is sixth in the Big Ten in scoring with 15.5 ppg and leads all conference newcomers in that category.
Coble Among Top NU Freshmen
With his 12.7 ppg average, Kevin Coble is on pace to become just the fifth true-freshman to lead the Wildcats in scoring since the 1972-73 season when freshman became eligible for varsity competition. Ben Johnson was the last Wildcat to do it in 2000 when he averaged 11.6 ppg. Cedric Neloms also did it in 1992 with 14.4 ppg, Jim Stack in 1980 with 12.9 and Billy McKinney--Northwestern's all-time leading scorer--with 15.8 ppg in 1974.
Coble is one of the leading candidates for Big Ten All-Freshman honors. He is averaging 14.5 points over the last six games and shooting 55 percent (36-of-65) from the field and 45 percent (13-of-29) from three over that stretch. He has scored in double-figures 15 times and has four games with 20 or more points. Among conference newcomers, he ranks third in scoring (12.7), fifth in rebounding (4.9), fourth in FG percentage (.518) and third in 3FG percentage (.407). Is seventh in the Big Ten overall in FG percentage and 16th in scoring.
Since returning from injury six games ago, Coble has stepped up in Big Ten action. As mentioned, he is averaging 14.5 ppg over the last five conference games. Before his injury, Coble averaged just 5.7 points and shot 27 percent in his first three league games against Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State. He sat out the home game with Wisconsin (Jan. 13) and the road game at Ohio State (Jan. 17). He scored 13 in his return at Minnesota, 10 in the narrow defeat to No. 5 Ohio State, 15 at home against Minnesota, 24 on the road at Wisconsin and 16 in the win over Penn State.
About Iowa
Iowa had won three-straight games before being tripped up at No. 2 Wisconsin last Saturday. Iowa features two of the Big Ten's top offensive threats in senior Adam Haluska (20.8 ppg) and freshman Tyler Smith (15.5 ppg) who rank first and sixth in the league in scoring.
As a team, Iowa leads the Big Ten in free throw percentage at 76 percent and ranks second in three-point shooting at 37 percent.
The Hawkeyes captured the Big Ten Tournament championship last season with wins over Minnesota, Michigan State and Ohio State.
Steve Alford is in his eighth season at Iowa, leading the Hawkeyes to six-straight winning seasons. Alford led Iowa to a 25-9 record in 2006, winning the Big Ten Conference Tournament for the second time. Alford's teams have won over 20 games in three of his seven years. The six-straight winning seasons is the second longest consecutive winning seasons streak in school history, one shy of the school record. The 25 wins in 2006 ranks as the second highest victory total ever at Iowa. Prior to arriving in Iowa, Alford was the head coach at Manchester (1991-95) and Southwest Missouri State (1995-99).
For the complete release click the PDF link above
