Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern and Stanford Renew Their Series Friday
12/20/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2012
| vs. Stanford |
|
| Date | Friday, Dec. 21 | 8 p.m. |
| Location | Welsh-Ryan Arena | Evanston, Ill. |
| Watch Live | Big Ten Network (Dave Revsine and Mike Kelley) |
| Listen | 720 AM WGN and wgnradio.com (Dave Eanet and Tim Doyle) |
| Live Stats | Gametracker |
| Social Media | @NUMensBball  | Facebook  |
| Tickets | NUsports.com or 888-GO-PURPLE |
| Game Notes | Northwestern | Stanford |
EVANSTON, Ill.-- Northwestern plays its penultimate nonconference game of the regular season Friday as it hosts Stanford at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.
Big Ten Network is providing live television coverage and the game can also be heard on 720 AM WGN and at wgnradio.com.
The Wildcats are coming off a 74-68 home win over Texas State on Monday, closing the game on a 12-0 run over the last 3:31 to pull out the victory. Dave Sobolewski, who hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:45 left, paced four NU players in double figures with 18 points.
Victories over Stanford on Friday and Brown on Sunday would give Northwestern 10 victories prior to the start of Big Ten play which would tie a school record. The Wildcats also posted 10 wins prior to the first conference game in the 2006-07, 2009-10 and 2011-12 seasons.
Series History:Stanford leads the all-time series with Northwestern, 4-2. The Wildcats won the most recent meeting, 70-62, Dec. 19, 2009 in Evanston. John Shurna led NU with 22 points.
SCOUTING STANFORD
• The Cardinal (7-4) dropped an 88-79 decision at No. 25 North Carolina State Tuesday evening. Dwight Powell led Stanford with 23 points and eight rebounds.
• Powell paces the squad with an average of 15.5 points per contest, while Chasson Randle is second with 14.1 points per game. Josh Huestis is the Cardinal's leading rebounder with a norm of 8.2 boards.
• Johnny Dawkins is in his fifth season as the head coach at Stanford where he has an 82-63 record.
HE'S HEATING UP
Redshirt freshman Tre Demps struggled from the field to open the season, but he has come on strong as of late. The guard missed each of his 14 3-point field goal attempts through Northwestern's first nine contests. However, he bounced back by hitting three of his four tries from beyond the arch Dec. 8 against Butler en route to scoring a career-best 15 points. Demps followed up the performance by hitting three of four triple tries again on Monday in a 12-point effort in a victory over Texas State. His combined 27 points in the two contests came in just 26 minutes of action.
OH, BROTHER!
A familiar name can be found on the Stanford roster in the form of Jack Ryan. Jack is the brother of recent Northwesten graduate Jeff Ryan who was a member of the Wildcats' basketball team from 2006-11. Their father, Jeff, was a four-year letterwinner in basketball at Stanford from 1977-81. Jack is redshirting for the Cardinal this season.
MESSING WITH TEXAS
The Lone Star State has been kind to Northwestern so far this season. The Wildcats are a perfect 3-0 in games played in the state of Texas this year, posting wins over TCU and Illinois State in the South Padre Island Invitational Nov. 23-24 prior to a Dec. 4 win at Baylor. NU is also undefeated in four games against teams that hail from the state of Texas, posting wins over Texas Southern, TCU, Baylor and Texas State.
CRAWFORD TO MISS REMAINDER OF 2012-13 SEASON
Senior forward Drew Crawford will miss the remainder of the 2012-13 season as he'll undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Crawford had started all 10 of the team's games and he was averaging 13.5 points per contest. He twice scored 20 points this season in wins over Texas Southern and Illinois State as well as 19 points in a victory at Baylor.
DOING IT ON DEFENSE
Northwestern has taken a step forward defensively so far this season. The Wildcats are limiting their opponents to an average of 59.9 points per game after allowing 68.2 points per contest a year ago. NU is also holding its foes to a .401 field goal percentage. The 'Cats have held five of their opponents to below 40 percent shooting in a game. During the 2011-12 season, Northwestern's opponents shot 45.2 percent from the field. Three times this year (Texas Southern, Fairleigh Dickinson, TCU), the Wildcats have limited the opposition to 14 first-half points.
UP NEXT...
Northwestern returns to action at 12:30 p.m. Sunday as it wraps up the nonconference portion of its season by hosting Brown.
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