Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Squares Off Against Tennessee State Sunday
11/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 21, 2009
Tennessee State at Northwestern
Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117)
Evanston, Ill. • 1 p.m.
Streaming Video: BigTenNetwork.com (Rob Coons and Mark Carman)
Audio: WGN-AM 720 and wgnradio.com (Dave Eanet and Shon Morris)
Gametracker: NUsports.com
In-game Twitter updates: @NU_SportsLIVE
Northwestern Game Notes (PDF)
EVANSTON, Ill. -
Northwestern opens up its participation in the Chicago Invitational Challenge Sunday as it hosts Tennessee State at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. The game is being video streamed live on BigTenNetwork.com.
NU (1-1) is looking to bounce back after suffering a 67-54 home loss Wednesday to No. 11 Butler. Michael Thompson scored a game-high 16 points for Northwestern, while John Shurna added 14 points and 9 rebounds. Northwestern trailed just 30-24 at the half, but the Bulldogs scored 14 of the first 16 points of the second half to extend their lead.
Series History: First meeting
Scouting Tennessee State
• The Tigers (0-2) are still seeking their first win of the season after falling 85-69 at home against Siena Nov. 13 before dropping a 85-57 decision at Northern Illinois Friday night.
• Robert Covington, a Bellwood, Ill., native and Proviso West grad, scored 21 points in the loss to Siena and was named the Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week for his efforts. He and Jacquan Nobles, who scored 21 against NIU, lead the Tigers with an average of 13.0 points per game.
• Under first-year head coach John Cooper, Tennessee State was picked to finish ninth in the OVC preseason poll. Cooper was most recently the associate head coach at Auburn.
Northwestern vs. the Ohio Valley Conference
The Wildcats are 4-2 all-time against current members of the Ohio Valley Conference. They are 3-0 against SIU-Edwardsville, 1-0 against UT-Martin and 0-2 against Tennessee Tech.
Chicago Invitational Challenge
Sunday's game against Tennessee State and Tuesday's contest vs. Liberty are affiliated with the Chicago Invitational Challenge. Regardless of Northwestern's result in the next two games, it will square off against Notre Dame on Friday as the Invitational moves to the UIC Pavilion. The Wildcats will then take on either Saint Louis or Iowa State the following day based upon their result against the Fighting Irish. Tennessee State and Liberty are also moving on to the UIC Pavilion this weekend and will compete in the same four-team bracket as Mississippi Valley State and Kennesaw State.
Up Next...
Northwestern returns to action at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday as it hosts Liberty. It is the second of consecutive doubleheaders with the Wildcat women's basketball team which faces DePaul at approximately 8 p.m. that evening.
