March 22, 2011
Northwestern (20-13) at Washington State (21-12)
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Beasley Coliseum (12,058)
Pullman, Wash. 10 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN2 (Bob Wischusen and Stephen Bardo)
Streaming Video: ESPN3.com
Audio: WIND 560 AM, WGN 720 AM (joined in progress after Blackhawks game) and NUsports.com (Dave Eanet and Bob Hildebrand)
Gametracker: NUsports.com
In-game Twitter updates: @NU_SportsLIVE
Northwestern Game Notes (PDF)
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Fourth-seeded Northwestern and second-seeded Washington State battle Wednesday with a trip to New York City and the National Invitation Tournament semfinals on the line. Tip-off is set for 10 p.m. Central time.
A victory by the Wildcats would advance them to their second trip to Madison Square Garden this season. NU participated in the annual Holiday Festival Dec. 20-21, defeating St. Francis (N.Y.) before falling to St. John's.
Last time out, Northwestern posted a convincing 85-67 win at top-seeded Boston College last Saturday. Michael Thompson hit six 3-pointers and had 22 points and six assists while John Shurna contributed 20 points and nine rebounds.
The Wildcats won their most recent meeting with a Pac-10 team, defeating Stanford 70-62 Dec. 19, 2009 in Evanston.
Series history: Northwestern is 3-2 all-time against Washington State. The Cougars won the most recent meeting 68-52 Dec. 30, 1996 at the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. This is the second meeting between the teams in the state of Washington. WSU posted a 71-64 win Dec. 28, 1951 in Seattle.
Scouting Washington State
The Cougars (21-12, 9-9 Pac-10) advanced to the quarterfinals with an 74-64 home win over Oklahoma State on Monday. Klay Thompson paced Washington State with 21 points while Brock Motum added 17.
Thompson, a first-team All-Pac-10 selection, ranks eighth in the nation with an average of 22.2 points per game. Faisel Aden contributes 12.9 points per contest, while DeAngelo Casto chips in with averages of 12.1 points and a team-leading 6.8 rebounds.
Ken Bone is in his second season at the helm at Washington State. He was previously the head coach for four seasons at Portland State. Bone has a 37-27 record in Pullman and a 114-76 record in six seasons as a Division I head coach.
NIT History
Northwestern is making its sixth NIT appearance and its third consecutive. The Wildcats have a 4-5 all-time record in NIT play.
Shurna Reunited With Casto, Thompson
Northwestern junior forward John Shurna is being reunited with two of his teammates from the 2009 USA Under-19 Team which won a gold medal at the FIBA World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand. Shurna, along with Washington State's DeAngelo Casto and Klay Thompson helped the United States post a perfect 9-0 record, giving the country its first championship in the event since 1991. Shurna averaged 6.0 points and 3.9 rebounds per game in the tournament.
Putting the Team on His Back
Senior point guard Michael Thompson may be slight of stature, but he's been carrying the Wildcats down the stretch as he's in no hurry to have his collegiate career come to an end. Check out his numbers over the last eight games:
21.6 points per game
.450 field goal percentage
.471 3-point field goal percentage (32-68)
1.000 free throw percentage (33-33)
40.2 minutes played per game
Shurna Returning to Form
Junior forward John Shurna was playing at an All-American level during the first month and a half of the season, averaging 23.3 points per game over Northwestern's first 10 contests. A left high ankle sprain, in addition to a concussion, hampered Shurna throughout Big Ten play. However, he appears to be returning to form as he has averaged 22.7 points per game over the last three contests, including putting up 23 against top-ranked Ohio State in the Big Ten tournament. Northwestern is 10-3 this season when Shurna is the team's leading scorer. He ranks eighth in the Big Ten and with an average of 16.9 points per game. His 1,142 points over the last two seasons are the second most in consecutive seasons in Northwestern history, trailing only Evan Eschmeyer (1,153). Shurna's play is a good indicator of the Wildcats' success (he missed two games due to injury):
In 19 wins - 19.6 ppg, .554 FG %, .505 3-pt FG %
In 12 losses - 12.5 ppg, .380 FG %, .327 3-pt FG %
The Magic Number is 70
When the Wildcats tally at least 70 points this season, their record is 18-1. NU's record falls to 2-12 when it posts 69 points or less.
Stepping Up
With JerShon Cobb missing five straight games due to injury, Alex Marcotullio has stepped up in his stead. The sophomore guard tallied a career-best 18 points off the bench in the Wildcats' regular-season finale vs Minnesota March 2. He followed it up with 13 points against the Golden Gophers in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament. He matched that total in a first-round win against Milwaukee before scoring 12 points at Boston College in round two. In his last five games, Marcotullio is averaging 12.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 3-pointers and 2.0 steals per game.
Up Next...
Wednesday's winner advances to Madison Square Garden in New York City to take on the winner of the game between Wichita State and College of Charleston. That contest will be played Tuesday, March 29 at approximately 8:30 p.m. Central time.
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook! and subscribe to the NU Sports Express e-newsletter to receive the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!