Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Faces Stiff Test Against No. 11 Butler Wednesday
11/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 17, 2009
Butler at Northwestern
Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117)
Evanston, Ill. • 7 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network (Wayne Larrivee and Shon Morris)
Audio: 720-AM WGN and wgnradio.com (Dave Eanet and David Kaplan)
Gametracker: NUsports.com
In-game Twitter updates: @NU_SportsLIVE
Fast Breaks with Skip Myslenski
Northwestern Game Notes (PDF)
EVANSTON, Ill. -
Northwestern continues its season-opening four-game homestand Wednesday as it hosts 11th-ranked Butler at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. The game is being televised live by Big Ten Network with Wayne Larrivee and Shon Morris on the call.
The contest can also be heard on 720-AM WGN and online at wgnradio.com with Dave Eanet and David Kaplan.
The Wildcats are coming off a 77-55 home victory over Northern Illinois on Friday in the season opener for both teams. Senior guard Jeremy Nash led the was with a career-high 20 points, including hitting 10 of 12 free throw attempts. NU converted on 34 of 48 tries from the charity stripe as a team. Luka Mirkovic contributed 15 points, including 12 in the first half.
Series History: Northwestern leads, 16-7.
Last Meeting: Northwestern led by as many as 12, but Butler rallied back in the second half to defeat the Wildcats 57-53 Nov. 26, 2008 in Indianapolis.
Scouting Butler
• Butler welcomes back all five starters from last season's team which went 26-6 overall and won the Horizon League regular season title.
• Junior forward Matt Howard was named the Horizon League Player of the Year a year ago after averaging 14.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. Sophomore forward Gordon Hayward was honored as the conference's Newcomer of the Year in 2008-09 after posting norms of 13.1 points and 6.5 boards per contest.
• The Bulldogs are coming off a 73-62 home win over Davidson in their season opener on Saturday. Trailing 58-56, the Bulldogs finished the game on a 17-4 run to pull away. Hayward paced Butler with 17 points, while Willie Veasley added 15.
No Fear of the Nation's Best
Northwestern is no stranger to playing the nation's elite. Last season, the Wildcats tied a school record by defeating three nationally ranked opponents. NU also topped three ranked opponents during the 1993-94 season. A year ago, NU downed No. 18 Minnesota 74-65 at home Jan. 18 before winning at No. 7 Michigan State 70-63 Jan. 21 and at No. 19 Purdue 64-61 March 4.
Charity Cases
The Wildcats were more than happy to take advantage of Northern Illinois' willingness to send them to the free throw line last Friday. NU attempted a whopping 48 free throws and made 34. The attempt total ranks as a tie for the third most in a game in school history while the 34 makes rank tied for ninth all-time. Both totals were the highest since Northwestern went 38-for-48 against Wisconsin March 6, 1993.
Nash Steps Up
Senior guard Jeremy Nash made the most of his second career start in NU's season-opening win against Northern Illinois, scoring a career-high 20 points. He made 10 of 12 free throw attempts and also contributed team highs of four steals and three assists. His only previous start came against Minnesota in the 2008 Big Ten Tournament. Nash had scored in double figures just four times in his previous 77 career games. His previous career high was 12 points at Indiana Feb. 3, 2008.
Coble and Ryan Sidelined for Season
Only one game into the season, Northwestern already has two key senior contributors sidelined for the season due to injury. Kevin Coble, a consensus second-team All-Big Ten pick in 2008-09, suffered a left foot injury in practice Nov. 10 and is slated to undergo surgery to repair the damage. He ranks 14th in school history with 1,203 career points and led the team in both scoring and rebounding each of his first three seasons. The Wildcats had a second player go down for the year when Jeff Ryan suffered a torn left ACL in NU's season-opening win over Northern Illinois Nov. 13. He will have surgery on the knee in the coming weeks.
Crawford Starts Season Opener
Drew Crawford became the fifth current Wildcat to start Northwestern's season opener as a true freshman when he got the nod against Northern Illinois on Friday. Kyle Rowley and John Shurna started the first game of the season a year ago against Central Arkansas, while Michael Thompson did so against Stanford during the 2007-08 season and Kevin Coble was in the first five vs. Cornell to tip off the 2006-07 campaign.
U-19 Teammates Reunite
Sophomores John Shurna of Northwestern and Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack of Butler reunite on the court this evening. The trio played together this summer as members of the United States' team which won a gold medal at the FIBA U-19 World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand. They helped the team post a perfect 9-0 record as the U.S. captured gold in the event for the first time since 1991. Shurna averaged 6.0 points and 3.9 rebounds during the Championships, including shooting an impressive .514 from the field (18-35) and .857 from the free throw line (12-14).
Up Next...
The Wildcats continue their season-opening four-game homestand Sunday when they host Tennessee State beginning at 1 p.m.
