Dec. 15, 2009
North Florida at Northwestern
Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117)
Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009
Evanston, Ill. 8 p.m.
TV: ESPNU (Lou Canellis and Mike Kelley)
Audio: WIND-AM 560 and wgnradio.com (Dave Eanet and Bob Hildebrand)
Gametracker: NUsports.com
In-game Twitter updates: @NU_SportsLIVE
Northwestern Game Notes (PDF)
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern seeks it best start to a season and longest winning streak in 16 years as it hosts North Florida on Wednesday at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. with ESPNU providing live television coverage.
The Wildcats improved to 7-1 in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history and extended their winning streak to six straight games with a 90-65 win Sunday over North Carolina A&T. Drew Crawford led the way, setting a Northwestern freshman record in scoring 35 points while hitting eight 3-pointers. He also added five rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots and was named Big Ten Player of the Week for his efforts. Crawford scored 24 points and hit six of the triples in the first half.
Series History: Northwestern leads, 1-0. The Wildcats beat North Florida 40-39 Nov. 25, 2006. The 'Cats are 5-0 all-time against Atlantic Sun Conference foes.
Scouting North Florida
North Florida (1-5) is playing its first game in 14 days since dropping a 73-51 decision at Alabama Dec. 2. Andy Diaz led the Ospreys with 14 points in the contest, while Stan Januska added 13. UNF led 31-30 at the break, but was outscored 43-20 in the second half.
Januska leds the Ospreys with an average of 11.2 points per game and is shooting 57.1 percent from the field, including 51.9 percent from 3-point range.
Matthew Driscoll is in his first season as the head coach at North Florida after most recently serving as the top assistant at Baylor.
So Far, So Good
Northwestern's 7-1 record is a tie for the best eight-game start to a season during the Carmody era, matching the 2001-02 and 2008-09 teams. The Wildcats are off to 7-1 starts in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history. NU earned five wins in the month of November this season for the first time in school history. A win over North Florida would give NU its longest win streak since the 1993-94 season when it opened the campaign with nine straight victories.
Drew's Day
Freshman Drew Crawford had a memorable performance in a win over North Carolina A&T Dec. 13. His 35 points set a Northwestern freshman record, besting the 30 Billy McKinney had against Illinois Feb. 16, 1974. It is the highest point total by any freshman in the country so far this season. Crawford's eight 3-pointers in the contest were one shy of the school record of nine set by Craig Moore against Brown Nov. 22, 2008. Crawford added five rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots in the contest and was named Big Ten Player of the Week for his efforts.
Bombs Away!
Northwestern's 20 3-point makes and 47 3-point attempts in the win over North Carolina A&T both established new Big Ten records. The 20 makes bested the previous conference mark of 18 set by Ohio State against LSU Jan. 15, 2005, while the 47 attempts topped Michigan's total of 42 against Florida Gulf Coast Dec. 22, 2008. The previous school records were 15 makes vs. Arkansas State Dec. 3, 2007 and 36 attempts at Ohio State Feb. 1, 2003.
Marathon Man
There's little question that Michael Thompson is the most important player on the court for Northwestern. Not when you consider that he has played either 39 or 40 minutes in six of the Wildcats' first eight contests this season. Thompson is tied for first in the nation (Jawan Carter, Delaware) with an average of 38.4 minutes played per game.
Home Sweet Home
The contest against North Florida is the second during a stretch in which Northwestern plays four straight games and eight of 10 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. After setting a program best with 13 home wins in 2008-09, the Wildcats play a school-record 19 regular-season home games during the 2009-10 campaign. NU's lone nonconference road game was at N.C. State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Northwestern is 4-1 at home so far this season with the lone loss coming to nationally ranked Butler Nov. 18.
Up Next...
Northwestern continues its four-game homestand Saturday as it hosts Stanford. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. at Welsh-Ryan Arena.