At a Glance: The Northwestern Wildcats

Quick Facts

-Established in 1851
-8,425 undergraduate students
-Located in Evanston, Illinois
-Main color-purple
-2012/2013 results: 13-19
-Luke Donald (PGA pro) attended NW
-Men's basketball introduced in 1901
-Won national championship in 1931
-Last BIG title in 1933 (other in '31)

Results Thus Far (8-10)

Wins
Eastern Illinois 72-55
Illinois-Chicago 93-58
IUPUI 63-61                                                   

Gardner-Webb 72-59

Northwestern coach Chris Collins will lead his team Saturday in the Hall

W. Michigan 51-35
Miss. Valley St. 86-64
Brown 58-52

Illinois 49-43

Losses
Stanford 71-58
Illinois State 68-64
Missouri 78-67
UCLA 95-79
N.C. State 69-48
Depaul 57-56
Wisconsin 76-49
Michigan 74-51
Iowa 93-67
Michigan State 54-40

Kenpom Rating-169th

PPG-62.4 (324) 

Avg. Scoring Margin- -2.2 (211) 

APG-12 (214)

RPG-34.5 (192)

Pts. Against-64.6 (37)

Fouls per game-18.8 (127) 

Category Leaders

Northwestern G Drew Crawford provides the spark 

Points

G-F #1 Drew Crawford-15.0

G #23 JerShon Cobb-11.7 

Rebounds

G #1 Drew Crawford-6.9

G-F #34 Sanjay Lumpkin-5.3

Assists

G #3 Dave Sobolewski-3.2

G #23 JerShon Cobb-2.9

To begin, this team is extremely defensive-minded. They rank in the top 40 in pts. against on the season and that is concerning on a couple of fronts for me as a fan (just trying to look past their sub par record and evaluate what may pose a threat). Granted, they beat Illinois at home, but that is a team we already lost to this season. Thus, beating Northwestern is critical for IU to continue to have a chance at making the post season dance and proving many fans wrong. Heck, many jumped right back on the wagon after the big W against 'the big W.' Finally…we are over that hump and we can stop hearing about that awful win streak against us. Anyways, back to Northwestern and the concern points: 

1) We generally play poorly against teams who run solid half-court sets and play a slow, methodical game that draws you in to their strengths.

2) We are coming off a huge win and it is sometimes difficult to maintain the same level of confidence going into a game of this type. Yes, it's another BIG game, but can the guys bring the same energy? Can we as fans back them up as much? 

In all honesty folks, this game is vital to our season. We need to put away teams like this at home when we have the opportunity. No more let-downs. Go for the jugular. We just showed everyone that we can play with this season's top teams and are now in the NCAA's rear view mirror. Let them not lose sight of the Hoosiers. 

Score prediction: IU-64 NW-52

Most Valuable Player prediction- Noah Vonleh

"There are a lot of people who follow our every move and give us a lot of support. They give us pride. We are playing for those fans every time we run out on the court." -Jarrad Odle