Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Minnesota
Northwestern Opens Big Ten Home Slate With Minnesota Thursday
1/4/2017 3:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball
| NORTHWESTERN BASKETBALL: GAME DAY INFORMATION | |||||
| DATE | OPPONENT | TIME | LOCATION | BROADCAST | LIVE STATS |
| Thu., Jan. 5 | Minnesota | 8 p.m. | Welsh-Ryan Arena | ESPNU and WatchESPN | SIDEARM |
| Radio: ESPN 1000 (Dave Eanet and Joey Meyer); Sirius 81, XM 81 TV: ESPNU (Kevin Brown and Daylen Cuff) Social: Twitter (@NUMensBball and @NU_SportsLIVE) | Instagram (@numensbball) | Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern | Minnesota BUY TICKETS |
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EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern takes aim at a school record for consecutive home wins Thursday when it opens the home portion of its Big Ten home season against Minnesota at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tip time is set for 8 p.m.
NU enters Thursday's game having won 13 straight home games dating back to last season, tying a school record. The Wildcats also won 13 in a row at Welsh-Ryan Arena in 2015 over the span of two seasons. NU is 9-0 at home after winning its final four home games last season. The 'Cats boast a 27-4 record in their last 31 games at Welsh-Ryan.
The Wildcats saw their nine-game winning streak snapped in a 61-52 loss at Michigan State last Friday. Vic Law paced Northwestern with 16 points and 9 rebounds. NU trimmed a 19-point first-half deficit to four on three occasions in the second half but couldn't make it all the way back.
Junior guard Bryant McIntosh comes into Thursday's game needing 17 points to become the 34th all-time member of Northwestern's 1,000-point club. McIntosh already is third in school history with 447 career assists, five shy of current NU assistant coach Pat Baldwin for second place.
Northwestern has one Minnesota native on its roster in redshirt senior Sanjay Lumpkin, whose father, Sean, was an All-Big Ten defensive back on the gridiron for the Golden Gophers in the 1990s. The Wildcats are 4-1 in games Lumpkin has played against his home-state school.
Minnesota freshman Amir Coffey is the brother of All-American member of Northwestern's women's basketball team Nia Coffey. Nia is NU's all-time leader with over 1,000 rebounds in addition to her scoring nearly 2,000 points.
Northwestern has won five of its last six meetings with Minnesota, including sweeping the season series a year ago. NU won 77-52 Jan. 9 in Minneapolis and 82-58 Feb. 4 in Evanston. The Wildcats and Golden Gophers have split their last 34 meetings since the turn of the century.
Scouting Minnesota
The Golden Gophers (13-2, 1-1 B1G) already have surpassed their win total from all of last season when they posted eight victories. Each of Minnesota's first two Big Ten games have gone to overtime, including a 91-82 victory at Purdue on Sunday. Nate Mason led the team with 31 points, 11 assists and 6 rebounds against the Boilermakers and paces the squad with an average of 14.7 points per game. Minnesota leads the Big Ten in both blocked shots (6.5 per game) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (.287).
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