'Cats Return Home for Rivalry Game Against No. 12 Illinois

NORTHWESTERN MEN'S BASKETBALL: GAMEDAY INFORMATION
DATE	Opponent	TIME	LOCATION	Television	Live Stats
Thursday, January 7	#12 Illinois	8:00 pm CT	Evanston, Ill. (Welsh-Ryan Arena)	Big Ten Network	Live Stats
Radio: WGN 720 Social: Twitter: @NUMensbball \| Instagram: @numensbball VIRTUAL PRESS BOX \| GAME PROGRAM

EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern returns home on Thursday night to face its intrastate rival, #12 Illinois Fighting Illini in what will be the Wildcats' fifth matchup against ranked opponent over their last six games. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. CT, with coverage live on Big Ten Network.

The Wildcats are 3-2 in Big Ten play, their best start in conference play since their historic 2016-17 season. In these five games, they are 2-0 at home with both wins coming against ranked opponents.

On Sunday, NU dropped its second Big Ten contest of the season in an 85-66 setback at #16 Michigan in Ann Arbor. Robbie Beran led the 'Cats on the night with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting, scoring 12 of those points in the second stanza. This marked the Virginia native's second best scoring performance against a Big Ten opponent, only behind a 17-point performance at Illinois last season.

The Wildcats are currently tied for fourth in the Big Ten standings. With a win on Thursday night, the 'Cats would pick up their first win over a ranked Illinois team since January 12, 2014, which also marked the first-ever Big Ten win for Chris Collins as a head coach. It would also mark the Wildcats' third win over a ranked opponent this season, their most since the 2016-17 season.

Since the 2017-18 season, the previous six meetings between Illinois and Northwestern have been decided by an average margin of 4.6 points, with each of those last six games being decided by 8 points or fewer. Northwestern has won two of its last three home games over Illinois, including a 72-68 overtime win at Allstate Arena (12/1/17) and a 68-66 victory at Welsh-Ryan Arena in 2019 (1/6/19).

Storylines

Robbie Beran leads the Wildcats in plus-minus on the season at +130 in 178 minutes of play. After leading the 'Cats in scoring for the second time of his career, Beran now shoots an even 50% from the floor and 42.9% from beyond the arc. The sophomore's highest scoring average against a Big Ten opponent is against Illinois who he averages 11 points per game against.
The Wildcats are protecting and distributing the rock very well this season, turning the ball over at the 19th lowest per game rate in the country at 10.6 turnovers per game. To go along with that, the 'Cats have the fifth best assist-to-turnover ratio in the country led by Boo Buie who is second in the conference in that category.
Pete Nance has scored NU's first eight points in both of Northwestern's last two games. The junior is 14-of-22 from the field in his last two games collecting 31 points along the way. Nance leads the team in field goals and blocks, and is second on the team in rebounds.