March 18, 2011

Northwestern (19-13) at Boston College (21-12)
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Conte Forum (8,606)
Chestnut Hill, Mass. • 10 a.m. CT
TV: ESPN (Lou Canellis and LaPhonso Ellis)
Audio: WGN 720 AM and NUsports.com (Dave Eanet and Shon Morris)
Gametracker: NUsports.com
In-game Twitter updates: @NU_SportsLIVE
Northwestern Game Notes (PDF)

Updated NIT Bracket (as of 3/17/11)

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern shoots to tie a school record for wins in a season as it travels to Boston College for the second round of the National Invitation Tournament on Saturday. A year after winning a program-best 20 games, the Wildcats can equal that mark with a victory over the Eagles.

Buffalo Wild Wings, located at 1741 Maple Avenue in Evanston (847-570-0333), will be opening its doors early beginning at 9:45 a.m. for all Wildcat fans to come and watch the game.

Playing in the NIT for the third straight season, NU defeated Milwaukee 70-61 in the first round Wednesday in the Wildcats' first postseason home game since 1994. Junior forward John Shurna hit five 3-pointers and posted game bests of 25 points and eight rebounds. Senior point guard Michael Thompson chipped in with 20 points and six assists.

Northwestern is seeking its first berth in the NIT quarterfinal round. Saturday's winner faces the winner of Monday's game between Washington State and Oklahoma State.

The Wildcats have won their last three meetings with ACC foes, defeating Florida State, NC State and Georgia Tech, respectively, in each of the last three Big Ten/ACC Challenges.

Series history: Northwestern and Boston College have split their four previous meetings. The Wildcats won the most recent matchup 69-59 Dec. 23, 1998 in Evanston.

Scouting Boston College
• The Eagles (21-12, 9-7 ACC) advanced to the second round with an 82-64 win at McNeese State on Tuesday. Reggie Jackson led Boston College with 22 points, while Cory Raji added 15 points and 11 boards.
• Jackson paces BC with an average of 18.5 points per game while Joe Trapani contributes 14.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest. The Eagles tied for fourth place in the ACC this season.
• Steve Donahue is in his first season at the helm at Boston College. He spent the previous 10 seasons at Cornell and has a 167-150 career record as a head coach.

NIT History
Northwestern is making its sixth NIT appearance and its third consecutive. The Wildcats have a 3-5 all-time record in NIT play.

3/17/83 - Notre Dame (Chicago, Ill.) W, 71-57
3/21/83 - DePaul (Chicago, Ill.) L, 65-63
3/16/94 - DePaul (Evanston, Ill.) W, 69-68
3/21/94 - Xavier (Evanston, Ill.) L, 83-79 (OT)
3/16/99 - DePaul (Chicago, Ill.) L, 69-64
3/18/09 - Tulsa (Tulsa, Okla.) L, 68-59
3/17/10 - Rhode Island (Kingston, R.I.) L, 76-64
3/16/11 - Milwaukee (Evanston, Ill.) W, 70-61

Thompson Selected to Big Ten All-Tournament Team
Michael Thompson joined Evan Eschmeyer (1999) and Jitim Young (2004) as Northwestern selections to the Big Ten all-tournament team by virtue of picking up the honor this season. Thompson set a Big Ten tournament record by scoring 35 points in an opening-round win over Minnesota March 10. The total bested the previous mark of 33 held by Purdue's Brian Cardinal. Thompson hit 11 of 22 field goal attempts, including five of 12 from 3-point range, while making all eight free throw attempts in the contest. He followed it up with 15 points in a near upset of No. 1 Ohio State. Thompson went a perfect 12-for-12 from the charity stripe to tie the Big Ten record for the best mark in a single tournament.

Shurna, Thompson Earn All-Big Ten Distinction
Northwestern placed a pair of individuals on the All-Big Ten third team when the honors were announced March 7. Senior guard Michael Thompson was a consensus selection, while junior forward John Shurna was a third-team pick of the coaches and was named honorable mention by the media. Shurna was a consensus second-team pick as a sophomore, while Thompson earned honorable mention a year ago. It is the second time in three years that NU has placed two players on the All-Big Ten teams. In 2009, Kevin Coble was selected to the second team, while Craig Moore was tabbed to the third team.

Setting the Standard
Northwestern's senior class has posted 64 wins over the last four seasons. With a victory over Illinois Feb. 5, this year's senior class earned its 59th career win to surpass last year's class as the winningest in Northwestern history. The 38 combined wins by the Wildcats over the last two seasons are a school record for back-to-back campaigns.

The Magic Number is 70
When the Wildcats tally at least 70 points this season, their record is 17-1. NU's record falls to 2-12 when it posts 69 points or less.

Success Under Carmody
NU earned its sixth Big Ten win of the season at Indiana Feb. 19. In head coach Bill Carmody's 11 seasons in Evanston, the Wildcats have recorded at least six Big Ten victories seven times. The program totaled six or more conference wins just five times in the previous 31 years prior to Carmody's arrival.

Climbing the Charts
Senior point guard Michael Thompson currently has 1,649 career points, ranking him third in Northwestern history. The Chicago native surpassed Patrick Baldwin (1991-94) as NU's all-time assists leader Jan. 15 at Michigan State. Thompson also ranks second all-time at Northwestern with 267 3-point field goals and fifth with 157 steals.

Mr. Reliable
It's a rare thing when Michael Thompson isn't on the court for Northwestern. He has started all 127 games during his career as a Wildcat and surpassed Jitim Young (2001-04) Feb. 9 for the most starts in school history. He passed Craig Moore (2006-09) for the most games played in school history vs. Penn State Feb. 24. On Jan. 12 at Iowa, Thompson became the school's all-time leader in minutes played, surpassing Jim Stack (1979-83). He eclipsed 4,500 minutes for his career March 11 vs. Ohio State. Last season, Thompson ranked fourth in the nation with an average of 37.7 minutes played per game. His average of 37.0 minutes per game this season ranks second in the Big Ten to only Penn State's Talor Battle.

Longest Active String of Consecutive Starts
Through games of 3/17/11
Source: STATS, Inc.
1. Tyler Newbold, Utah State - 129
1. Kevin Anderson, Richmond - 129
3. Michael Thompson, Northwestern - 127

On Target
Northwestern has long been known for its accurate 3-point shooting. The Wildcats sport a .375 3-point percentage this season. NU is also fourth nationally with an average of 9.2 made 3-pointers per game. Individually, John Shurna is 14th in the nation with a .465 3-point percentage. Shurna's 10-for-11 performance overall from the field in a win over Long Island Dec. 13 ranks as a tie for the second-best effort in program history.

Helping Hand
Northwestern is well known for playing "team" offense and that's reflected in the statistics. The Wildcats lead the Big Ten and rank 14th in the nation with an average of 16.5 assists per game. NU's assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.67 (527 assists, 316 turnovers) is the nation's second-best mark, trailing only Wisconsin. The 'Cats are also third nationally with an average of only 9.9 turnovers per game.

They're Called Free Throws for a Reason
Michael Thompson enters Saturday's contest having connected on a school-record 34 straight free throw attempts. He surpassed the previous mark of 27 set by Pete Boesen in 1976 against Minnesota March 2. Thompson hit all 11 of his tries from the line Feb. 19 at Indiana, a tie for the third-best single-game effort in school history. He ranked tied for eighth in Big Ten play with a .842 free throw percentage (48-57).

Bombs Away!
A year after shattering the school season record with 317 3-point makes, the 'Cats have knocked down 294 this season. NU leads the Big Ten and is fourth nationally with an average of 9.2 3-point makes per game. Michael Thompson ranks third among all Big Ten players with an average of 2.69 triples per contest.

Big Ten, Most 3-point field goals in conference games - All-time
Northwestern, 2009-10 - 170 Northwestern, 2010-11 - 162 Michigan, 2008-09 - 151 Purdue, 2007-08 - 151 Wisconsin, 2009-10 - 147

Exclusing Company
When Northwestern's Michael Thompson hit his 250th career 3-pointer Feb. 27 at Wisconsin, he became just the fifth Big Ten player over the last 15 seasons to compile at least 500 assists and 250 3-point field goals in their careers. He became the first Wildcat to eclipse 500 career assists Feb. 24 vs. Penn State. All four of Thompson's season assist totals rank among the top 10 marks in program history.

500+ assists, 250+ 3-point field goals
Big Ten players since 1996-97
Source: STATS, Inc.
Talor Battle, Penn State (2007-present)
Dee Brown, Illinois (2002-06)
Jeff Horner, Iowa (2002-06)
Drew Neitzel, Michigan State (2004-08)
Michael Thompson, Northwestern (2007-present)

Home Sweet Home
The Wildcats have a 13-4 home record this season with three of the losses coming to teams that were nationally ranked at the time (Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State). After setting a program best with 13 home wins in 2008-09, the Wildcats established a new mark with 15 victories at Welsh-Ryan Arena in 2009-10. Northwestern has a 38-3 home record against unranked opponents over the last three seasons.

Up Next...
Saturday's winner advances to take on the winner of Monday's game between Oklahoma State and Washington State. Date and site is to be determined.

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