Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Conclude Regular Season At Purdue Saturday
3/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 2, 2007
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March 3, 2007 -- 1:05 p.m. CT
Northwestern (13-16, 2-13) at Purdue (19-10, 8-7)
Mackey Arena -- West Lafayette, Ind.
Radio -- WGN 720 AM (Dave Eanet & Bob Hildebrand)
Television -- ESPN Plus Regional, WCIU in Chicago (Mike Adamle and Bob Ford)
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern travels to West Lafayette, Ind., Saturday for a 1:05 p.m. CT tip with the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena. This is the second meeting between the two teams in a week. Last Saturday Purdue withstood a late NU rally and held on for a 75-68 win in Evanston.
The Wildcats suffered another close loss on Wednesday night to Indiana. Trailing by 11 with 2:42 left, Northwestern made a fierce comeback and cut the lead to two points with under a minute left but came no closer. Roderick Wilmont, who scored 31 points, set an Indiana and Welsh-Ryan Arena record with nine 3-point field goals. NU's Tim Doyle scored 17 and dished out eight assists.
The Boilermakers, winners in five of their last seven, are going for win No. 20 Saturday. They posted a 66-47 win over Minnesota at home Wednesday night. Purdue's defense forced 28 turnovers and were led by Carl Landry's 25 points and 12 rebounds.
Saturday is the 156th meeting all-time between the two schools. Purdue leads 114-41, though, it has been Northwestern with the upper hand of late, winning five of the last six, including the last two at Mackey Arena.
Doyle Leads NU vs. Purdue
In four career games with Purdue, Doyle is averaging 16.2 points while shooting better than 66 percent (22-33) from the field and 72 percent from the line (18-25). In the most recent meeting last Saturday, the senior set a personal best with 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting. In the home win over Purdue last season, Doyle scored 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting and dished out five assists.
Coble Vying For All-Freshman Honors
With his 13.3 ppg average, Kevin Coble is in line to become just the fifth true-freshman to lead the Wildcats in scoring since the 1972-73 season when freshmen 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 15.8 points over the last nine games. He has scored in double-figures 19 times and has five games with 20 or more points. Among conference newcomers, he ranks third in scoring (13.3) and rebounding (5.3), fourth in FG percentage (.493) and third in 3FG percentage (.387). He is 11th in the Big Ten overall in FG percentage and 15th in scoring. His perfect 5-of-5 shooting performance from behind the arc against Utah in December is tied for the best 3FG shooting performance in the Big Ten this season among all players. He averaged 20.3 ppg in three games at the San Juan Shootout and was named to the all-tournament team for his efforts.
Doyle Nearing Assist Record
With 146 assists, Doyle is back on the pace to break Northwestern's single-season record for assists which currently stands at 154 (Patrick Baldwin, 1994). With his 5.0 apg average, he is on pace for at least 156.
Doyle On a Tear Offensively
In addition to Coble, Tim Doyle has been forced to pick up some of the scoring slack of late and is averaging 15.6 points and shooting 60 percent over the last 10 games. Last Saturday he enjoyed the best offensive game of his career with 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting and is coming off a 17-point eight-assist game in the loss to Indiana Wednesday.
He scored 30 points in two home games against No. 5 Ohio State and Minnesota, going 13-of-24 from the field in those two games with 10 assists. He scored nine in the road loss at Wisconsin, 16 in the home loss to Illinois and another 15 in the win over Penn State. He then led the Wildcats with 17 in the close loss to Iowa on the road and then again in the win over Texas-Pan American.
Doyle needs six more rebounds to become the first Wildcat in NU history to record at least 200 points, 100 rebounds and 100 assists in consecutive seasons.
About The Boilermakers
Purdue is 19-10 and looking to strengthen its NCAA Tournament resumé. They have posted solid home wins over Indiana, Michigan State, Illinois and Michigan along with nonconference wins over Virginia, Missouri and DePaul.
Carl Landry is one of the top scorers in the Big Ten, averaging 18.8 ppg--third best in the league behind Iowa's Adam Haluska and Wisconsin's Alando Tucker. David Teague is 10th in the league with 14.1 points.
Purdue is fourth in the league in scoring with 70.3 points per contest. They scored 81 in the home win over the Hoosiers on Feb. 15.
Matt Painter is in his second year as the head coach in West Lafayette after taking over for the legendary Gene Keady. During the 2004-05 season, Painter served as associate head coach during Keady's 25th season with the Boilermakers. Painter spent the 2003-04 season as the head coach of Southern Illinois, where he led the Salukis to a 25-5 record and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Salukis were ranked as high as 15th in the AP poll during the 2003-04 season, and Painter earned Missouri Valley coach of the year honors.
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