Wildcats and Illini Clash in Lone Regular-Season Matchup

2/12/2016 2:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Nick Brilowski

NORTHWESTERN BASKETBALL: GAME DAY INFORMATION
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	BROADCAST	LIVE STATS
Sat., Feb. 13	Illinois	7 p.m.	Welsh-Ryan Arena	BTN and BTN2Go	SIDEARM
ESPN 1000, Sirius 135, XM 195: Dave Eanet and Joey Meyer BTN: Jeff Levering and Jon Crispin Social: Twitter (@NUMensBball and @NU_SportsLIVE) \| Instagram (@numensbball) \| Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern \| Illinois

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern and Illinois meet up for their lone regular-season meeting when they square off at 7 p.m. Saturday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Northwestern (16-9, 4-8 B1G) is coming off a 71-63 loss at Ohio State on Tuesday. The Wildcats led most of the way and hit 12 3-pointers in the contest but the Buckeyes went 12-for-12 from the free throw line over the last three minutes to earn the win. Bryant McIntosh and Tre Demps led NU with 14 points apiece.

PURCHASE TICKETS

Northwestern has hit at least 11 3-pointers in each of its last three games, connecting on 41.7 percent (35-84) of its attempts from beyond the arch over that span. The Wildcats hit a Big Ten season-high 12 triples in each of their last two contests vs. Minnesota (Feb. 4) and Ohio State (Feb. 9).

Saturday's game features two of the top freshman 3-point shooters in the Big Ten. Illinois' Jalen Coleman-Lands leads all conference freshmen with 58 triples on the season while Northwestern's Aaron Falzon is second with 51 makes from beyond the arch. Both individuals lead their respective teams in 3-point field goals.

Falzon's 51 triples rank fourth among freshmen in school history. He is three behind Craig Moore (54; 2005-06) for third place and four behind David Newman (55; 1998-99) for second place. Sean Wink holds the Northwestern freshman record with 86 3-pointers in 1997-98.

Saturday's contest is the lone home game for the Wildcats over a four-game span that sees them travel to Purdue next Tuesday and Michigan on Feb. 24. Northwestern's next home game is Feb. 27 vs. Rutgers.

The series between Northwestern and Illinois has been balanced lately as the teams have split their last 10 meetings going back to the 2009-10 season.

Scouting Illinois
The Fighting Illini (11-13, 3-8 B1G) is coming off a 77-65 home loss to fifth-ranked Iowa on Sunday. Jalen Coleman-Lands led Illinois with 17 points, including hitting five 3-pointers. Malcolm Hill paces the team and ranks second in the Big Ten with an average of 18.9 points per game. Kendrick Nunn contributes 16.7 points per contest to rank seventh in the league. Maverick Morgan boasts a .591 field goal percentage, the fourth-best mark in the Big Ten. John Groce is in his fourth season as the head coach of Illinois.