Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Mississippi Valley State
Northwestern Tips Off 2016-17 Season at Home Friday
11/10/2016 2:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball
| NORTHWESTERN BASKETBALL: GAME DAY INFORMATION | |||||
| DATE | OPPONENT | TIME | LOCATION | BROADCAST | LIVE STATS |
| Fri., Nov. 11 | Miss. Valley State | 7 p.m. | Welsh-Ryan Arena | BTN Plus and BTN2Go | SIDEARM |
| Radio: ESPN 1000 (Dave Eanet and Joey Meyer); 89.3 FM WNUR BTN Plus: Will Greer and Katy Winge Social: Twitter (@NUMensBball and @NU_SportsLIVE) | Instagram (@numensbball) | Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern BUY TICKETS |
|||||
EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern's men's basketball team tips off its 2016-17 season at 7 p.m. Friday when it hosts Mississippi Valley State at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The Wildcats are opening their fourth season under head coach Chris Collins. NU returns three starters and 10 letterwinners overall from last year's team that posted a 20-12 overall mark, including an 8-10 record in Big Ten play. The 20 victories set a school regular-season record. Northwestern returns 61.4 percent of its scoring and 71.4 percent of its rebounding from a year ago.
The 'Cats welcome three scholarship freshmen to the fold: guard Isiah Brown, forward Rapolas Ivanauskas, center Barret Benson. Guard Tino Malnati also has joined the program as a walk-on.
Northwestern has won its last eight season-openers, including a 3-0 mark under Collins. The Wildcats downed UMass Lowell 79-57 in last year's opener behind 21 points and 12 rebounds from Alex Olah.
Northwestern rolled to an 89-52 win over Illinois Springfield in its lone exhibition game last Friday. Brown paced five Wildcats in double figures with 18 points off the bench.
Redshirt senior Sanjay Lumpkin and junior Bryant McIntosh are serving as team captains for the 2016-17 season. Lumpkin, a native of Wayzata, Minnesota, has seen action in 101 career contests while making 90 starts with the Wildcats. A native of Greensburg, Indiana, McIntosh has started 62 of the 64 games he has appeared in through two seasons.
Scouting Mississippi Valley State
The Delta Devils are coming off an 8-27 season a year ago, including a 6-12 mark in SWAC play. Marcus Romain returns after leading the team and ranking second in the SWAC with an average of 18.6 points per game. Romain also paced the squad with 5.4 rebounds per contest and is a preseason first-team All-SWAC pick. MVSU was picked to finished seventh in the SWAC this season in a preseason poll of the league's head coaches and sports information directors. Andre Payne is in his third season as the head coach of the Delta Devils.
Series History
Northwestern leads the all-time series between the teams, 6-1. The Wildcats won last year's meeting 78-48 in Evanston on Dec. 15. NU has won all six meetings in Evanston. The Wildcats are 10-1 overall against members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). NU is 2-0 against Texas Southern, and 1-0 against both Alcorn State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
