Jan. 21, 2014
| Game 19: Northwestern (12-6, 2-3) at No. 22/20 Purdue (13-5, 3-3) |
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| Date | Thursday, Jan. 23 | 6 p.m. CT |
| Location | Mackey Arena | West Lafayette, Ind. |
| TV | Big Ten Network (LaChina Robinson & Kevin Lee) BTN2Go |
| Radio | WNUR (89.3 FM) |
| Live Tweets | @NU_SportsLIVE |
| Live Stats | Gametracker |
| Social Media | @nuwbball  | Facebook  |
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern plays No. 22/20 Purdue for the second time this month, facing the Boilermakers at 6 p.m. CT Thursday, Jan. 18 at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. These two teams met at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Jan. 9 with the Wildcats taking the 71-68 victory over then-No. 21/20 Purdue. If NU is able to capture a win Thursday, that would be its first sweep of Purdue since 1993.
The week then continues back at home Sunday when another ranked opponent, No. 21/18 Nebraska visits Welsh-Ryan Arena on Sunday, Jan. 26. NU opened the Big Ten slate at Nebraska, in a game that went down to the wire and favored the Huskers by just a point, and then at home vs. Purdue and will wrap up the season series with both teams this week.
LAST TIME VS. PURDUE
Northwestern took down No. 21/20 Purdue, 71-68, on Jan. 9 at Welsh-Ryan Arena in the Wildcats' first Big Ten home contest of the year. Despite trailing by as many as 11 points in the first half, the Wildcats used a strong second half to knock off their second ranked opponent of the season and improve to 11-4 on the year, 1-1 in the conference.
Sophomore guard Maggie Lyon saw 20 points to lead the team in scoring, including a perfect 3-3 from long distance. Christen Inman was close behind, scoring 18 points, just one shy of her performance against Nebraska. Freshman Ashley Deary broke a new career high with 11 assists. Lauren Douglas also scored in double digits with 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench while Alex Cohen chipped in another 10 points and four blocks. Senior guard La'Terria Taylor played valuable minutes, giving Deary a break, with a career-high five rebounds, two assists and no turnovers.
After two Nia Coffey free throws helped NU go ahead eight with 3:16 to play, Purdue's Courtney Moses drained a 3-pointer and KK Houser added another from long-distance, putting the score at 67-65 with 1:07 to play. A layup by Lyon gave the Wildcats a four-point cushion before Purdue drained yet another 3-pointer to pull within one (69-68) with just 17 seconds left.
Northwestern stayed strong as Deary went 1-for-2 at the line with 15 seconds left and Douglas added another with less than a second left to secure the 71-68 Wildcat win.
NEW B1G ASSIST LEADER: Ashley Deary
After recording nine assists in each of NU's games last week, freshman point guard Ashley Deary upped her assist average to 7.1 per game, which is the new top mark for the Big Ten and also moves her up to sixth in NCAA Division I Women's Basketball. Deary is the only freshman to rank in the top 10 in the country for assists. Through five Big Ten games, Deary also is averaging a conference-best 8.4 assists per game, well-ahead of MSU's Kiana Johnson who is in second with 7.4 assists per game.
More impressive is that Deary is the shortest player on the Wildcats this year and is one of the shortest players in the Big Ten. Listed at 5-4, Deary and Nicole Bell of Indiana are the shortest players in the conference. Her height has not stopped her from putting up impressive numbers. Here's a look at where Deary stacks up height-wise amongst the Big Ten assist leaders.
1. Ashley Deary - NU - 5-4 • 7.1 apg
2. Samantha Logic - IOWA - 5-9 • 6.9 apg
3. Kiana Johnson - MSU - 5-7 • 6.3 apg
4. Rachel Theriot - NEB - 6-0 • 5.9 apg
5. KK Houser - PUR - 5-6 • 5.3 apg
6. Larryn Brooks - IND - 5-5 • 4.3 apg
7. Dara Taylor - PSU - 5-8 • 4.3 apg
8. Shayne Mullaney - MINN - 5-10 • 4.1 apg
9. April Wilson - PUR - 5-7 • 4.1 apg
10. Rachel Banham - MIN - 5-9 - 3.7 apg
LAST WEEK...
NU went 1-1 last week but a few Wildcats led or ranked highly amongst the Big Ten in a number of statistical categories for the week. Here's where they ranked in just games played last week:
Field Goal Percentage: Christen Inman - 1st, .706 (12-for-17)
Assists: Ashley Deary - 1st, 9.0 apg
Assist/Turnover Ratio: Maggie Lyon - 1st, 8.0 (8 assists, 1 turnover)
Scoring: Nia Coffey - 6th - 18.5 ppg
Field Goal Percentage: Nia Coffey - 8th, .625
Steals: Nia Coffey - T4th - 2.5 spg
Steals: Maggie Lyon - T4th - 2.5 spg
Blocks: Nia Coffey - T6th - 2.5 bpg
Blocks: Lauren Douglas - T13th - 1.5 bpg
Blocks: Alex Cohen - T13th - 1.5 bpg
Assist/Turnover Ratio: Ashley Deary - 9th - 1.8
Assist/Turnover Ratio: Christen Inman - 10th - 1.8
NEAR PERFECTION FROM INMAN
Through five Big Ten games, Christen Inman is leading the conference in field goal percentage at .660. In Big Ten-only games, she is an impressive 31-of-47 from the field, including a perfect game (see next note) and an 8-of-9 showing against Wisconsin. Overall, Inman has a .527 field goal percentage, which comes in at eighth in the conference.
SCOUTING PURDUE
2013-14 Record: 13-5, 3-3 B1G
All-Time Series Record: Purdue leads, 44-21; NU won last meeting, 71-68, Jan. 9, 2014 at Welsh-Ryan Arena
Notable: Purdue has gone 3-1 since facing Northwestern on Jan. 9, with wins on the road at nationally-ranked Penn State and Nebraska. The Boilermakers also took down Indiana at home and their other Big Ten loss since the first meeting vs. NU was at home against Michigan. Purdue also dropped its conference opener at Ohio State, 89-78 on Jan. 2. Courtney Moses and KK Houser continue to be scoring threats for Purdue, averaging 15.7 and 15.5 points, respectively. Moses is .467 from 3-point range, which ranks fourth in the conference.
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