| Northwestern (6-4) vs. Western Michigan (6-3) |
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| Date | Saturday, Dec. 20 | 2 p.m. |
| Location | Welsh-Ryan Arena | Evanston, Ill. |
| Watch | BTN and BTN Plus on BTN2Go (Eric Collins and Shon Morris) |
| Listen | 720 WGN and wgnradio.com (Dave Eanet and Jason Okrzesik) |
| Live Stats | Gametracker |
| Buy Tickets | NUsports.com |
| Social Media | @NUMensBball  | Facebook  | @numensbball  |
| Game Notes | Northwestern | Western Michigan |
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern plays its third contest during a stretch of four games in nine days when it hosts Western Michigan at 2 p.m Saturday.
Tickets are available at NUsports.com or by calling 888-GO-PURPLE.
The Wildcats are looking to bounce back from an 80-67 home loss to Central Michigan on Wednesday. The Chippewas' point total snapped Northwestern's nation's-best streak of holding 15 straight opponents under 70 points, dating back to Feb. 22 of last season. Bryant McIntosh and Alex Olah led NU with 12 points apiece.
Olah leads the Wildcats with averages of 11.6 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots per game.
The Wildcats' meeting with Western Michigan features several connections between the schools. Broncos' junior Connar Tava attended De La Salle in Warren, Mich., the same high school as former Wildcat Alex Marcotullio, while senior Tim Brennan went to Lincoln Park High School in Chicago, the same school as Michael "Juice" Thompson. In addition, junior A.J. Avery attended St. Rita High School along with NU freshman Vic Law.
Northwestern has dominated the all-time series with Western Michigan by a 22-5 margin. A year ago, the Wildcats held the Broncos to 12 first-half points and 24.4 percent shooting in the contest to post a 51-35 win on Dec. 7 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Western Michigan's 10 field goals in last year's meeting were the fewest by an NU foe since Oakland had nine on Nov. 21, 1998, a 68-30 Northwestern win.
Western Michigan is Northwestern's fourth most often played nonconference opponent, trailing only Notre Dame (88), DePaul (30) and Marquette (28). NU opened its season against Western Michigan 19 times over a 24-year span from 1941-64. The Broncos were the Wildcats' first ever opponent at McGaw Hall on Dec. 6, 1952 with the visitors posting a 95-79 win.
Scouting Western Michigan
The Broncos posted an 80-72 victory at Pacific on Sunday. Connar Tava scored 19 points in the win and was named MAC West Player of the Week for his efforts.
Tava leads Western Michigan with averages of 16.1 points and 6.0 rebounds per game and a .605 field goal percentage. Four of the Broncos' five starters are averaging at least 13.4 points per game.
Steve Hawkins is in his 12th season as the head coach at Western Michigan where he has a 210-158 record. He is 347-269 overall in 21 years overall as a head coach.
UP NEXT...
Northwestern plays one more contest before Christmas when it hosts UIC at 1 p.m. Monday. The contest is "Take a Kid to a Game Day." Each paid adult admission gets two children in the eighth grade and under in free of admission. Tickets must be purchased on day of the game.
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