Northwestern University Athletics
'Cats and Fighting Illini Battle Wednesday at Welsh-Ryan
1/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
| Northwestern (10-6, 1-2) vs. Illinois (11-6, 1-3) |
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| Date | Wednesday, Jan. 14 | 8 p.m. |
| Location | Welsh-Ryan Arena | Evanston, Ill. |
| Watch | Big Ten Network (Eric Collins and Stephen Bardo) |
| Listen | 720 WGN and wgnradio.com (Dave Eanet and Joey Meyer) |
| Live Stats | Gametracker |
| Buy Tickets | NUsports.com |
| Social Media | @NUMensBball  | Facebook  | @numensbball  |
| Game Notes | Northwestern | Illinois |
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- In-state foes square off at 8 p.m. Wednesday as Northwestern hosts Illinois at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The Wildcats have won five of their last eight meetings with the Fighting Illini dating back to the 2009-10 season.
The Wildcats are coming off a tough 84-77 overtime loss at Michigan State on Sunday. NU rallied back from double-digit deficits to take the lead in both halves, but the Spartans scored the first eight points in the extra session en route to the victory. Bryant McIntosh led Northwestern with 18 points while Tre Demps added 17.
McIntosh has established himself as one of the top freshmen in the Big Ten this season. In addition to dishing out an average of 4.7 assists per game (fifth in the conference), he is averaging 12.2 points per contest. McIntosh enters Wednesday's game having scored in double figures in nine consecutive games. Over the last 30 years, only three other Wildcat true freshmen have scored 10 or more points in nine or more straight games: Cedric Neloms (12 in 1991-92), T.J. Parker (11 in 2002-03) and Drew Crawford (9 in 2009-10).
Wednesday's contest features two of the top shot-blockers in the Big Ten. Illinois' Nnanna Egwu ranks fifth in the Big Ten with an average of 1.8 blocks per game while Northwestern's Alex Olah is seventh with 1.6 per contest. Egwu, a senior, is fourth in school history with 173 career blocks which is four shy of the top spot. Olah, a junior, has 112 career blocks which ranks fifth all-time at Northwestern.
Nathan Taphorn has given Northwestern a boost off the bench each of the last two games, scoring 9 points in each contest, including knocking down three 3-pointers against Michigan State. His .522 3-point field goal percentage this season leads the squad.
Scouting Illinois
• The Fighting Illini suffered a 53-43 loss at Nebraska on Sunday. Sophomores Malcolm Hill and Kendrick Nunn led Illinois with 12 points apiece but the team shot just 27.3 percent from the field in the contest.
• Leading scorer and rebounder Rayvonte Rice (17.2 ppg, 6.9 ppg) has been sidelined due to injury for the time being. Hill contributes 13.9 points per contest. Illinois ranks second in the nation with a .783 team free throw percentage.
• John Groce has a 54-34 record in three seasons as the head coach at Illinois and a 139-90 mark in seven seasons overall as a collegiate head coach.
UP NEXT...
The Wildcats return to action at 7:15 p.m. Central time Saturday at Michigan. Northwestern returns home next Thursday, Jan. 22 when it faces Ohio State at 6 p.m.
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