Dec. 18, 2008
NU Game Notes vs. Stanford (PDF)
EVANSTON, Ill. -
Seeking its best nine-game start in 15 years, the Northwestern men's basketball team travels to undefeated Stanford on Saturday evening. Tip-off is set for 9 p.m. Central time. The game can be heard live on 89.3 FM WNUR and online at sports.wnur.org.
The Wildcats are seeking their fifth straight win after most recently defeating UMKC 77-62 Monday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Kevin Coble scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, while freshman John Shurna added 20 and Michael Thompson chipped in with 17 points and 6 assists. Northwestern is 7-1 for the first time since the 2001-02 season and tries for best open to a season through nine games since starting the 1993-94 campaign with nine straight wins.
Series History: Stanford leads, 3-1
Last Meeting: Northwestern rallied back from a 13-point second-half deficit to tie the score, but Anthony Goods scored 19 points as No. 20 Stanford posted a 71-60 win in Evanston Nov. 15, 2007.
Scouting Stanford
The Cardinal (6-0) is off to its best start to a season since opening the 2003-04 campaign with 26 straight victories.
Senior guard Anthony Goods leads Stanford with an average of 19.0 points per game, while classmate Lawrence Hill is contributing 14.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest.
Johnny Dawkins is in his first season as the head coach of the Cardinal after serving as a longtime assistant coach at his alma mater, Duke.
Potent Offense vs. Stingy Defense
Something's got to give Saturday night when Northwestern and Stanford meet up. The Cardinal ranks atop the Pac-10 in scoring offense, averaging 78.3 points per game. On the other side, the Wildcats entered play this week ranked second in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 49.4 points per contest (currently 51.0). NU has not allowed its last 13 opponents to reach 70 points, the second-longest streak in the country behind only Pittsburgh (17).
Gaining National Respect
The Wildcats' hot start has helped them earn respectable national rankings from numerous outlets. Northwestern is receiving 7 votes in this week's Associated Press poll, the 40th most of any team. NU has not been ranked in the top 25 of the AP poll since the 1968-69 season. Through games played Wednesday, the 'Cats are ranked No. 10 according to RealTimeRPI.com and are No. 35 in the Sagarin ratings.
UMKC Game Notes
John Shurna's 20 points are a career high, topping the 17 he scored against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Nov. 19 ... The Wildcats' 7-1 record this season matches it best start in the Carmody era, equaling the same start by the 2001-02 squad ... UMKC became just the second team to score at least 60 points against the Wildcats this season. Brown's 64 points Nov. 22 are the most by an Northwestern foe in 2008-09 ... Coble (22) and Shurna (20) became the first Wildcat duo to record at least 20 points in the same game since Tim Doyle (26) and Coble (24) did it against Purdue Feb. 24, 2007.
Block Party
Historically, Northwestern hasn't been known as much of a shot-blocking team, but that wasn't the case in its win over UMKC Dec. 15. The Wildcats swatted 10 shots in the contest, the most in the nine-year Bill Carmody era and one shy of the school single-game record. The previous Carmody-era mark was nine set against vs. Iowa Jan. 19, 2002 and again vs. New Hampshire Nov. 25, 2002. Kevin Coble and Ivan Peljusic tied an NU individual season high with three blocks apiece in the game.
Protecting the Rock
Northwestern has handed out 131 assists while committing just 87 turnovers so far this year for an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.51. The mark ranks a close second in the Big Ten to Illinois (+1.52). Sophomore point guard Michael Thompson has been particularly impressive, handing out 32 assists while turning the ball over just 10 times this season in 258 minutes of action. The Wildcats ranked third in the country last season with a 1.43 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Up Next...
The Wildcats play one more game prior to the holiday, hosting SMU next Tuesday at 7 p.m. BigTenNetwork.com is offering a free live video stream of the contest.