Northwestern Puts Win Streak on the Line at Wisconsin

NORTHWESTERN BASKETBALL: GAME DAY INFORMATION
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	TELEVISION	LIVE STATS
Saturday, Jan. 26	Wisconsin	1:15 p.m.	Kohl Center Madison, Wis.	BTN	Sidearm
Radio: WGN Radio AM-720 (Dave Eanet and Joey Meyer) Social: Twitter (@NUMensBball) \| Instagram (@numensbball) \| Facebook Notes: Northwestern \| Wisconsin

EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern kicks off a two-game road swing this weekend when it travels north to face Wisconsin on Saturday. Tip-off at the Kohl Center is set for 1:15 p.m.

The Wildcats are riding a two-game win streak after a win over Indiana Tuesday night at the new Welsh-Ryan Arena that featured multiple milestones. Senior center Dererk Pardon recorded his 1,000th career point while Sullivan-Ubben Head Men's Basketball Coach Chris Collins became the fastest coach in program history to 100 wins.

Aaron Falzon made a splash in the breakout game of his redshirt junior campaign, scoring a career-high 21 points against the Hoosiers on an electric 6-of-7 performance from behind the arc.

The 'Cats will face a red-hot Badgers squad in Madison, two games removed from topping previously-unbeaten No. 2 Michigan, 64-54. Wisconsin is 13-6 on the season and sits sixth in the Big Ten with a 5-3 record.

Northwestern is 2-0 in its last two trips to the Kohl Center after winning 60-52 last year on the road as part of a season series split. In 2017, Northwestern upset the seventh-ranked Badgers, 66-59, in Madison en-route to its first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

STORYLINES TO WATCH

BATTLE OF THE BIGS: Fresh off a tough matchup with Indiana's Juwan Morgan, senior center Dererk Pardon will go toe-to-toe with another premier Big Ten big in Wisconsin's Ethan Happ. Happ is averaging 19 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists, all top-three marks in the conference, while Pardon is averaging 14 points and eight rebounds, and coming off a strong 17-point, six-rebound showing against Indiana. In last year's win over the Badgers, Pardon posted 17 points on a perfect 8-of-8 clip from the field.

HOTTER THAN A CALZONE: Aaron Falzon exploded for a career-high 21 points on Tuesday in 20 minutes, eclipsing his previous season highs of six points and six minutes by a wide margin. Falzon drained six threes in seven tries, which tied him for the fourth-best three point percentage (.857) in a single game in program history on a minimum of five attempts. Falzon was active on both ends of the floor and registered a steal and a career-high two blocks while also taking an important charge in the game's closing stages.

A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE: Saturday's matchup features a pivotal battle at the three-point arc on Northwestern's end of the floor. The Wildcats boast the best three-point field goal defense in the conference at a stifling 27.7 percent, while the Badgers own the best shooting percentage from deep in the Big Ten at a scorching 39.5 percent. D'mitrik Trice (44.5), Brad Davison (42.9) and Nate Reuvers (40.8) all rank among the top 15 sharpshooters on three-point percentage in the conference. Northwestern's top-ranked three-point defense in the conference also slides in as the 10th best in the country. Opponents score just 22.3 percent of their points from behind the arc against the Wildcats, which is the fifth-lowest mark in Division I.

QUOTABLES

"Literally, I got emotional, when I was talking to the BTN guys after the game on the air, I got a little bit emotional, because that's how much I care about the kid. He loves to play basketball. He loves to be in the gym. He cares and there's a lot of guys who don't care as much as he does, and he's the one who gets punished with injury. I always get heartbroken by that. … He's worked so hard, he's kept a great attitude. There's been so many frustrations and emotional times for him. To see him smiling and doing his thing, it really got me a little bit emotional, because he's a special guy."

--Chris Collins on Aaron Falzon coming up big when his name was finally called

"It's hard to explain to explain being in a zone like that. I've been in a zone like that a lot of times in my life. The past two, three years, it's been hard to get it here with injuries and stuff … Getting it in the game is the ultimate rush, the ultimate feeling, because it feels like everything you put up is going to go in. When it does rattle, I had one and I was like 'Oh man, it rattled out' and it happened to go in. Just an unbelievable feeling."

--Aaron Falzon on what it felt like during his hot shooting night.

"Every win is big for us. Especially in the Big Ten. Every win, we have to use it as a momentum booster, just to catapult us into the next game."

--Dererk Pardon on turning the two game win streak into momentum.

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Northwestern Puts Win Streak on the Line at Wisconsin

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Players Mentioned

Aaron Falzon

Dererk Pardon

Northwestern University Athletics

Northwestern University Athletics