Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern and Indiana Square Off in Primetime Saturday
2/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 18, 2011
Northwestern (15-10, 5-9 Big Ten) at Indiana (12-14, 3-10)
Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011
Assembly Hall (17,357)
Bloomington, Ind. • 6 p.m. CT
TV: Big Ten Network (Tom Hart and Greg Kelser)
Audio: 720 AM WGN and wgnradio.com (Dave Eanet and Tim Doyle)
Satellite Radio: Sirius 121 and XM 141
Gametracker: NUsports.com
In-game Twitter updates: @NU_SportsLIVE
Northwestern Game Notes (PDF)
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern shoots for its second season sweep of Indiana in the last three years as the teams square off at Assembly Hall on Saturday night. Tip time is set for 6 p.m. Central time.
The Wildcats are playing their second game in three days while the Hoosiers haven't played since taking on Michigan last Saturday.
NU earned a sweep of Iowa on Thursday evening, posting a 73-70 home win. Michael Thompson led four Wildcats in double figures with 16 points to along with nine assists while not committing a turnover. Drew Crawford and John Shurna contributed 15 points apiece.
Thompson is set to appear in his 121st game Saturday, tying Craig Moore (2006-09) for the Northwestern career record. He has already set school records for career assists, games started and minutes played.
Last meeting: Northwestern led by as many as 24 in posting a 93-81 win over Indiana Jan. 9 in Evanston. John Shurna scored a game-high 24 points, while Luka Mirkovic posted a career-high 20 points to go along with 12 rebounds.
Scouting Indiana
• The Hoosiers (12-14, 3-10) have been off since suffering a 73-69 loss at Michigan last Saturday. Christian Watford led Indiana with 14 points.
• Watford paces the team with averages of 16.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Verdell Jones III contributes 12.2 points per contest.
• Tom Crean has a 28-60 record in three seasons at Indiana and a 218-156 mark in 12 overall seasons as a head coach.
Setting the Standard
Northwestern's senior class has posted 60 wins over the last four seasons. With a victory over Illinois Feb. 5, this year's senior class earned its 59th career win to surpass last year's class as the winningest in Northwestern history. The 37 combined wins by the Wildcats over the previous two seasons are a school record for back-to-back campaigns.
The Magic Number is 70
When the Wildcats tally at least 70 points this season, their record is 14-1. NU's record falls to 1-9 when it tallies 69 points or less.
Success Under Carmody
NU enters Saturday's game with five Big Ten wins so far this season. In head coach Bill Carmody's first 10 seasons in Evanston, the Wildcats have recorded at least six Big Ten victories six times. The program totaled six or more conference wins just five times in the previous 31 years prior to Carmody's arrival.
Mr. Reliable
It's a rare thing when Michael Thompson isn't on the court for Northwestern. He has started all 120 games during his career as a Wildcat and surpassed Jitim Young (2001-04) Feb. 9 for the most starts in school history. He's set to tie Craig Moore (2006-09) for the most games played in school history Saturday night. On Jan. 12 at Iowa, Thompson became the school's all-time leader in minutes played, surpassing Jim Stack (1979-83). He eclipsed 4,000 minutes for his career Jan. 20 vs. SIU Edwardsville. Last season, Thompson ranked fourth in the nation with an average of 37.7 minutes played per game. His average of 36.0 minutes per game this season ranks second in the Big Ten to only Penn State's Talor Battle.
Longest Active String of Consecutive Starts
Through games of 2/17/11
Source: STATS -- Chicago
1. Dairese Gary, New Mexico - 123
2. Tyler Newbold, Utah State - 122
3. Kevin Anderson, Richmond - 121
4. Michael Thompson, Northwestern - 120
Climbing the Charts
Senior point guard Michael Thompson currently has 1,498 career points, ranking him eighth in Northwestern history. He started the season in 21st place. The Chicago native also has 494 career assists. He surpassed Patrick Baldwin (1991-94) for first place in school history Jan. 15 at Michigan State. Thompson became the second player in NU history to post 400 career assists when he reached the milestone Nov. 30 in a win over Georgia Tech. He also ranks second all-time at Northwestern with 241 3-point field goals.
Shurna Selected to Wooden Award Midseason Top 30
John Shurna is one of 30 individuals named to the midseason top 30 list for the Wooden Award which is presented to the nation's top college basketball player. He is one of six Big Ten players on the list, joining Purdue's E'Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson, Illinois' Demetri McCamey, Wisconsin's Jon Leuer and Ohio State's Jared Sullinger. Shurna was also named to the preseason watch list for the Naismith Award which is a similar honor.
On Target
Northwestern has long been known for its accurate 3-point shooting. The Wildcats sport a .381 3-point percentage this season. NU is also seventh nationally with an average of 9.1 made 3-pointers per game. Individually, John Shurna is fifth in nation with a .495 3-point percentage. Shurna's 10-for-11 performance overall from the field in a win over Long Island Dec. 13 ranks as a tie for the second-best effort in program history.
Helping Hand
Northwestern is well known for playing "team" offense and that's reflected in the statistics. The Wildcats lead the Big Ten and rank ninth in the nation with an average of 17.3 assists per game. NU's assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.68 (433 assists, 258 turnovers) is the nation's second-best mark, trailing only Wisconsin. The 'Cats are also fifth nationally with an average of only 10.3 turnovers per game.
Bombs Away!
A year after shattering the school season record with 317 3-point makes, the Wildcats have picked up right where they left off. NU leads the Big Ten and is seventh nationally with an average of 9.1 3-point makes per game this season. Michael Thompson ranks third among all Big Ten players with an average of 2.43 triples per contest in league play.
Settling In
Freshman JerShon Cobb has gotten his NU career off to a good start. The Georgia native has started all 23 of the games that he has appeared in. He scored in double figures in four of his first five Big Ten games, including tallying a collegiate-best 18 points at No. 20 Illinois Jan. 6. Cobb ranks fifth among all conference freshmen with an average of 8.3 points per game. In league play, that average goes up to 9.6 points per contest, the fourth-best mark of any Big Ten frosh.
Up Next...
Northwestern returns home to Evanston to take on Penn State at 8 p.m. Thursday. ESPN2 is providing live television coverage.
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook! and subscribe to the NU Sports Express e-newsletter to receive the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!
