Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern and Indiana Meet Up in Super Sunday Showdown
2/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2010
Indiana at Northwestern
Sunday, Feb. 7, 2010
Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117)
Evanston, Ill. • 1:30 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network (Wayne Larrivee and Shon Morris)
Audio: WGN-AM 720 and wgnradio.com (Dave Eanet and David Kaplan)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 90 and XM 196
Gametracker: NUsports.com
In-game Twitter updates: @NU_SportsLIVE
Northwestern Game Notes (PDF)
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern and Indiana square off for the first time this season Sunday as the teams meet up at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tip-off is set for 1:30 p.m. with Big Ten Network providing live television coverage. NU is seeking its third consecutive victory over the Hoosiers.
A very limited number of tickets remain for the contest and fans are encouraged to arrive early. Doors to Welsh-Ryan Arena open at noon.
CTA, Metra, and Pace all provide service to Welsh-Ryan Arena. The CTA Purple Line from downtown Chicago stops at Central Street where you may connect to the #201 CTA bus that stops a block from the arena or walk three blocks west on Central Street to the stadium.
The Metra Union Pacific North Line from downtown Chicago and Kenosha, Wis., stops at Central Street where you may also connect to the #201 CTA bus that stops a block from the arena or walk three blocks east on Central to the stadium.
Pace route #213 runs along Green Bay Road and connects with five other Pace routes, and also stops at Central Street.
The Wildcats (15-7, 4-6 Big Ten) posted a 67-52 home win over Michigan Tuesday night. Drew Crawford led four Northwestern players in double figures with 17 points. Jeremy Nash added a career-high 11 rebounds. NU led 37-33 four minutes into the second half when it embarked on a 21-4 run to pull away and earn a season sweep of the Wolverines. The 'Cats shot 54.3 percent from the field to 32.7 percent for Michigan.
Sunday's contest features two of the top freshmen in the Big Ten. Crawford leads the conference with an average of 13.7 points per game in Big Ten play. Meanwhile, Indiana's Christian Watford leads all freshmen with 12.2 points per contest over all games played.
Last Season: Northwestern earned its first season sweep of Indiana since the 1967-68 campaign. The Wildcats posted a 77-75 win in Evanston Jan. 28 before notching a 75-53 victory in Bloomington Feb. 25.
Scouting Indiana
• Indiana (9-12, 3-6 Big Ten) dropped a tight 78-75 home decision to No. 8 Purdue Thursday night. Verdell Jones III led the Hoosiers with 22 points.
• Jones, a sophomore guard, leads all active Indiana players with an average of 14.3 points per game. Freshman forward Christian Watford contributes 12.2 points and 6.0 rebounds per contest.
• Tom Crean is in his second season at the helm of the Hoosiers and his 11th season overall as a collegiate head coach. While at Marquette, he guided the Golden Eagles to the 2003 Final Four.
Shurna Takes Charge
To say that John Shurna has elevated his game this season would be an understatement. After posting norms of 7.3 points and 3.0 rebounds per game as a freshman, Shurna has raised those averages to 17.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game in 2009-10. He ranks third in the Big Ten in scoring and sixth in rebounding. The 10.5 point-per-game boost is the largest increase of any Big Ten player from last season to this season. He scored at least 20 points in five straight games from Dec. 19-Jan. 7. After twice scoring 29 points in a game this season, he established a new career high with 31 points at fifth-ranked Michigan State Jan. 30. Shurna averaged 30.0 points per game in his two contests against the Spartans this season. His average of 19.6 points per game and .907 free throw percentage (39-43) in Big Ten play lead the league.
30-30 Vision
By virtue of John's Shurna's 31-point effort at Michigan State Saturday night, Northwestern joined Oklahoma and Lipscomb the only three schools this season to have three different players score at least 30 points in a game. Michael Thompson scored 31 vs. Tennessee State Nov. 22 and Drew Crawford tallied 35 against North Carolina A&T Dec. 13.
Spreading the Wealth
Northwestern is well known for sharing the basketball while protecting it from the opposition at the same time. That's the case again this season. The Wildcats lead the Big Ten and rank fifth in the nation with a 1.50 assist-to-turnover ratio, having handed out 368 assists while committing only 247 turnovers. In its Dec. 30 overtime contest against Illinois, Northwestern handed out 21 assists while turning the ball over just three times. The three turnovers tied a low in the Carmody era and none of them came over the final 35 minutes of play.
So Far, So Good
Northwestern's 15-7 record is the school's best through 22 games since the 1958-59 campaign. NU is closing in on the school record-season record of 17 victories achieved in 1982-83 and again in 2008-09. The Wildcats have started 7-1 in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history. NU earned five wins in the month of November this season for the first time ever. Northwestern's nine-game win streak which was snapped Dec. 30 at Illinois was its longest since the 1993-94 squad opened its season with nine straight victories. The Wildcats' 10 wins prior to the new year tied the 2006-07 team for the school record for most victories before Jan. 1.
Mirkovic Contributes in the Post
Sophomore center Luka Mirkovic has given the Wildcats key contributions as of late. Over a seven-game span from Jan. 10-30, the native of Belgrade, Serbia, averaged 9.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists per contest. After posting his second career double-double (11 pts., 11 reb.) in a win over Texas-Pan American Jan. 7, Mirkovic notched his third in a win over No. 6 Purdue Jan. 16 with a career-high 16 points and 10 boards. In Big Ten play, Mirkovic ranks seventh in the conference with an average of 7.2 rebounds per game. His 14 boards at Minnesota Jan. 26 matched a high for an individual during the Carmody era at Northwestern.
Bombs Away!
The Wildcats lead the Big Ten and are sixth nationally with an average 9.27 3-point makes per game, while also ranking fifth in the nation with 25.3 3-point attempts per game. Northwestern's 20 3-point makes and 47 3-point attempts in the win over North Carolina A&T Dec. 13 both established new Big Ten records. NU matched the attempts record with 47 against Illinois Dec. 30. The 20 makes bested the previous conference mark of 18 set by Ohio State against LSU Jan. 15, 2005, while the attempt total topped Michigan's total of 42 against Florida Gulf Coast Dec. 22, 2008. The previous school records were 15 makes vs. Arkansas State Dec. 3, 2007 and 36 tries at Ohio State Feb. 1, 2003.
Helping Hand
Northwestern is well known for playing "team" offense and that's reflected in the statistics. The Wildcats have assisted on 73.3 percent of their field goals this season, posting 368 assists on their 502 made baskets. The percentage ranks first in the nation. In fact, NU has ranked in the top five nationally in assist percentage each of Bill Carmody's 10 seasons as head coach.
Marathon Man
There is no questioning Michael Thompson's importance to the Wildcats. Not when you consider that he has played 38 or more minutes in 15 of Northwestern's first 22 contests this season. Thompson leads the Big Ten and is fifth nationally with an average of 37.7 minutes per game. Despite playing as many minutes as he does, the NU floor general has committed either one or no turnovers in 10 of the team's 22 games and sports a 2.53 assist-to-turnover ratio. In Big Ten play, he is second in the conference with a 2.75 assist-to-turnover ratio (44 assists, 16 turnovers in 382 minutes played). Northwestern is 12-2 when Thompson scores in double figures and is 3-5 when he doesn't.
Up Next...
Northwestern hits the road Wednesday, Feb. 10 as it travels to Iowa. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
