'Cats Hit the Road for Big Ten Showdown at Indiana

NORTHWESTERN MEN'S BASKETBALL: GAMEDAY INFORMATION
DATE	Opponent	TIME	LOCATION	Television	Live Stats
Wednesday, December 23	Indiana	7:30 pm CT	Bloomington, Ind. (Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall)	Big Ten Network	Live Stats
Radio: WGN 720 Social: Twitter: @NUMensbball \| Instagram: @numensbball VIRTUAL PRESS BOX

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – After opening its 2020-21 Big Ten slate in historic fashion, Northwestern is set to hit the road for the first time this season as the Wildcats travel to Assembly Hall to face off against the Indiana Hoosiers.

In their last time out, the Wildcats handed #4 Michigan State its first loss of the season with a 79-65 victory at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Sunday night. The win marked the Wildcats' first win over an AP top-five team since 1979, when they beat #4 Michigan State led by Magic Johnson.

Boo Buie led all scorers with a career-high 30 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including matching his career high with five three-pointers on just six attempts. It marked the second time of Buie's young career in which he has scored 25+ points against Michigan State, having also scored his previous career high of 26 against the Spartans on Dec. 18, 2019. In the last 10 years, Buie is the only player in college basketball to post multiple 26+ point scoring efforts in their career against Michigan State.

Following his career performance, Buie was named the Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday for the first time in his career. He is the first Wildcat to earn Big Ten weekly honors since Scottie Lindsey in 2017.

Wednesday's primetime matchup marks the 172nd meeting between Northwestern and Indiana. Recent history between the teams has been tight, with four of the last five games being decided by seven points or fewer.

Tip-off for Wednesday is slated for 7:30 pm CT, with live coverage brought to you on the Big Ten Network, as well as WGN Radio.

STORYLINES

Northwestern currently ranks 15th in the nation in effective field goal percentage (57.3%), while its defense ranks seventh in opponent effective field goal percentage (39.8%). The Wildcats are the only team in the country to rank in the Top-15 in both offensive and defensive categories.
Pete Nance finished with a season-high 15 points and 12 rebounds in the win over MSU, notching his first double-double of the season and the fourth of his career. He has now grabbed at least seven rebounds for five- consecutive games, the longest streak of his career. Nance currently leads all Big Ten players averaging 7.2 defensive rebounds per game.
Northwestern is averaging 90.4 points per game this season, the second-highest mark in program history through five games. The 1966-67 Wildcats were the only Northwestern team to average more, with 108.4 points.
First-year Ty Berry is averaging 10.6 points per game and ranks fourth in the conference among qualified shooters with a 57.1% three-point percentage (12-of-21). Berry is averaging 2.4 made threes per game, which ranks third among all qualified Power-Five first-years, while his 10.6 points per game rank third among all Big Ten first-years.
The Wildcats are shooting 57-of-131 from beyond the arc and rank first in the conference in threes per game (11.4) and third in three point percentage (43.5%). It is the highest number of made threes through the first five games in the Chris Collins era (and since at least 2010-11), as well as the highest three-point percentage to start a season since the 'Cats' historic 2016-17 season.

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