| Northwestern (8-4) vs. Northern Kentucky (6-6) |
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| Date | Saturday, Dec. 27 | 2 p.m. |
| Location | Welsh-Ryan Arena | Evanston, Ill. |
| Watch | Big Ten Network (Eric Collins and Stephanie White) |
| Listen | 720 WGN and wgnradio.com (Dave Eanet and Joey Meyer) |
| Live Stats | Gametracker |
| Buy Tickets | NUsports.com |
| Social Media | @NUMensBball  | Facebook  | @numensbball  |
| Game Notes | Northwestern | Northern Kentucky |
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern concludes the pre-conference portion of its season and a five-game homestand Saturday when it takes on Northern Kentucky at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
Tickets are available at NUsports.com or by calling 888-GO-PURPLE.
NU held UIC to 25 percent shooting (a season low for an opponent), including 17.1 percent in the first half, in posting a 63-46 home win on Monday. After the Flames scored the first basket of the game, the 'Cats rattled off 16 consecutive points en route to the victory. Bryant McIntosh posted a career-high 22 points while Alex Olah added 17 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
Saturday's matchup will be the first between Northwestern and Northern Kentucky. The Norse are the second Atlantic Sun Conference school that Northwestern will have faced this season. The Wildcats defeated North Florida 69-67 on Nov. 20 in Evanston.
Northwestern is 4-0 all-time against members of the Atlantic Sun, going 3-0 vs. North Florida and 1-0 vs. Jacksonville.
The contest between the Wildcats and the Norse features a pair of talented freshman point guards from the state of Indiana. In fact, Northwestern's Bryant McIntosh (New Castle, Ind./Greensburg) and NKU's Tayler Persons (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo) were teammates on the Indiana All-Stars team that played against the Kentucky All-Stars in their traditional exhibition series over the summer.
Scouting Northern Kentucky
The Norse is coming off an 81-68 home victory over Idaho on Monday. Tayler Persons led the team with 23 points.
Persons, a freshman guard, paces Northern Kentucky with an average of 13.5 points per game. The Norse has already played a pair of Big Ten teams this season, falling 62-31 to Wisconsin on Nov. 14 and 80-61 at Nebraska two days later.
Dave Bezold has a 187-122 record in his 11th season as the head coach at Northern Kentucky, helping the Norse transition from NCAA Division II to Division I in 2012-13.
UP NEXT...
The Wildcats open their Big Ten schedule next Tuesday at league newcomer Rutgers. Tip-off is set for 11 a.m. Central time with ESPNU providing live television coverage.
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