| Northwestern (10-4, 1-0) vs. #4/4 Wisconsin (13-1, 1-0)) |
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| Date | Sunday, Jan. 4 | 7:30 p.m. |
| Location | Welsh-Ryan Arena | Evanston, Ill. |
| Watch | Big Ten Network (Eric Collins and Stephen Bardo) |
| Listen | ESPN 1000 and wgnradio.com (Dave Eanet and Joey Meyer) |
| Live Stats | Gametracker |
| Buy Tickets | NUsports.com |
| Social Media | @NUMensBball  | Facebook  | @numensbball  |
| Game Notes | Northwestern | Wisconsin |
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern gets the home portion of its season underway Sunday as it faces No. 4/4 Wisconsin at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
Limited tickets are available at NUsports.com or by calling 888-GO-PURPLE.
This is the second straight year that the Wildcats are facing the Badgers in NU's first home game of the conference season. The teams split their series last year with each squad winning on the other's court. Wisconsin won 76-49 in Evanston Jan. 2 before the Wildcats won 65-56 in Madison Jan. 29. The 36-point turnaround in the games with Wisconsin last year was the fifth-largest in NU's favor in school history between losing the first meeting and winning the second.
The meeting between the teams in Madison last season was certainly one of Northwestern's highlights as it came against a team that went on to reach the Final Four. Drew Crawford paced the Wildcats with 30 points in victory over then-No. 14 Wisconsin. NU held the Badgers to 26.3 percent shooting in the contest, the second-lowest mark at home for Wisconsin under Bo Ryan.
NU started off conference play with a 51-47 victory at league newcomer Rutgers on Tuesday. Freshman Bryant McIntosh paced the Wildcats with 17 points, including hitting five of six free throw attempts down the stretch to seal the win. Tre Demps contributed 16 for Northwestern which held the Scarlet Knights to 30.2 percent shooting from the field.
McIntosh's 17 points vs. Rutgers were the most by a Northwestern freshman in his first Big Ten game since Michael Thompson scored 17 vs. Penn State on Jan. 2, 2008. The output also matched Ben Johnson against Iowa on Jan. 5, 2000 and Kevin Rankin vs. Purdue on Jan. 3, 1991 as the top performances by an NU newcomer over the last 35 years.
Since allowing Central Michigan to score 80 points on Dec. 17, the Wildcats have allowed an average of just 52.3 points per game over the last four contests with those four foes posting a combined .330 field goal percentage (69-209). The .171 first-half field goal percentage (6-35) by UIC on Dec. 22 was the lowest by a Northwestern opponent in a half since Seton Hall shot .167 (5-30) in the second half on Dec. 18, 2005.
The Northwestern Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2015 will be recognized at Sunday's contest, one day following their formal induction. The class includes former Northwestern basketball athlete and coach Rich Falk.
Scouting Wisconsin
The Badgers shot 63.8 percent from the field in posting an 89-72 home victory over Penn State in their Big Ten opener on Wednesday. Nigel Hayes scored a team-high 21 points while Frank Kaminsky contributed 18 points and 14 rebounds.
Kaminsky paces Wisconsin with averages of 16.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. The Badgers rank first in the Big Ten in scoring defense (53.8 ppg) and rebounding margin (+7.8).
Bo Ryan has a 334-122 record in 14 seasons as the head coach at Wisconsin and a 717-225 mark in 31 seasons overall as a collegiate head coach.
UP NEXT...
The Wildcats have a mid-week bye in their schedule before returning to action at Michigan State next Sunday, Jan. 11. Tip-off is set for 11 a.m. Central time with Big Ten Network televising the contest. Northwestern's next home game is Jan. 14 vs. Illinois.
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