March 4, 2005

NU-Indiana Game Notes in PDF Format
NU Player Bios in PDF Format
NU Statistics in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern men's basketball team goes into Bloomington this weekend to close out the 2004-05 regular season in the exact same situation it was in a year ago--the Wildcats need a win to finish with a winning record, thus making them eligible for a postseason NIT bid (barring a Big Ten Tournament title, of course).

Northwestern vs. Indiana
Saturday, March 5 * 4:30 EST (3:30 Central)
Assembly Hall (Bloomington, Ind.)
TV: ESPN+ Regional (Larry Morgan, play-by-play; John Laskowski, analyst)
Click here for TV clearances
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Dave Eanet, play-by-play; Bob Hildebrand, analyst)

That said, let us compare this year's game to last year's game.

Last year, the Wildcats played their final game at home, but against a team that had beaten them by 24 earlier in the year (Michigan). This season, NU is on the road, but playing a team it beat by 21 exactly two months ago (Indiana).

Last year, the Wolverines came into Welsh-Ryan Arena and escaped with a seven-point win. Given that logic, you could argue that Northwestern is hoping history repeats itself Saturday at IU's Assembly Hall.

NU head coach Bill Carmody knows that Saturday's task will be tall. Indiana recovered from that Big Ten-opening loss to the Wildcats and has been arguably the surprise of the conference, going 9-5 since then including a loss at the buzzer Tuesday night at Wisconsin (where the Badgers are 30-1 vs. Big Ten teams under head coach Bo Ryan).

"I think Indiana is playing as well as anyone in the Big Ten right now," Carmody said. "They have not lost at home, and their freshmen have stepped up. It has been two months since we played--both teams are very different now."

NU is also still battling for seeding for next weekend's Big Ten Tournament. If the Wildcats win and Iowa loses to Michigan, the 'Cats will be the seventh seed and play Purdue. In any other scenario involving those teams, NU finishes as the eighth seed and likely gets Michigan.

Did You Know?
• In each of Northwestern's last four games (Penn State, Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State), the first team to score has won? In fact, the first team to score has led all the way--no lead changes, no ties, nothing. The Wildcats have won two of those games (Penn State, Michigan) and lost two (Illinois, Michigan State).

The Series with Indiana
• This marks the 146th meeting between the Wildcats and the Hoosiers in men's basketball; Indiana leads the series, 103-42.

• After losing the first four times his NU teams played IU, head coach Bill Carmody has seen his 'Cats win three of the last four.

• These teams tipped off the Big Ten season against each other in Evanston on Jan. 5, with Northwestern winning 72-51 (see page 18 of these notes for box score and recap of that game).

• NU is looking to sweep the season series for the first time since 1968 (86-81 in Bloomington, 73-66 OT in Evanston).