The 2008-09 athletic year at Northwestern University was one to be remembered. Filled with a plethora of memorable wins, honors and championships, there was much to be celebrated this past year in Evanston. Be sure to follow along at NUsports.com through August 10 as a look back is taken at just some of the numerous highlights the Wildcats experienced.
Complete Game Recap/Box Score/Notes
EVANSTON, Ill. - Few people likely gave the Northwestern men's basketball team much of a chance when it headed to East Lansing, Mich., to take on Michigan State Jan. 21. Besides, the Spartans were the preseason pick by many to win the Big Ten and entered the contest 15-2 overall and a perfect 5-0 in conference play. Meanwhile, the Wildcats had stumbled out to a 1-4 Big Ten start following a challenging opening portion of the season.
Despite falling by 11 to MSU at home 18 days earlier, Northwestern was coming off an impressive nine-point win over No. 18 Minnesota. Behind a red-hot night from junior Kevin Coble and some clutch shooting late by sophomore Michael Thompson and senior Craig Moore, the Wildcats stunned the Breslin Center crowd ending Michigan State's 28-game home winning streak by posting a 70-63 win.
Coble scored 19 of his Big Ten season-high 31 points in the first half and Thompson and Moore each hit two huge 3-pointers in the closing minutes to help NU post wins over ranked opponents in consecutive games for the first time in school history.
Michigan State, which went on to advance to the national championship game, was forced into 18 turnovers by the Wildcats' defense and had their 80-game home win streak against unranked opponents snapped. The victory was Northwestern's first over a top-10 foe on the road since the 1952-53 season.
The landmark performance was deemed the "Game of the Year" by the Big Ten Network, regardless of sport.