Northwestern Travels to Columbus to Face Ohio State

2/8/2016 2:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Wildcats seek season sweep with Buckeyes

By: Nick Brilowski

NORTHWESTERN BASKETBALL: GAME DAY INFORMATION
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	BROADCAST	LIVE STATS
Tue., Feb. 9	Ohio State	7 p.m. CT	Value City Arena; Columbus, Ohio	BTN and BTN2GO	GameTracker
ESPN 1000, Sirius 135: Dave Eanet and Joey Meyer BTN: Dave Revsine and Jon Crispin Social: Twitter (@NUMensBball and @NU_SportsLIVE) \| Instagram (@numensbball) \| Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern \| Ohio State

WATCH: Coach Collins and D. Pardon Preview

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern opens up a stretch of three out of four games on the road Tuesday when it takes on Ohio State at Value City Arena in Columbus. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. Central time.

Following Tuesday's contest, the Wildcats return home to take on Illinois on Saturday before playing at Purdue (Feb. 16) and Michigan (Feb. 24).

Tre Demps scored 23 points to go along with a career-high 8 assists as Northwestern rolled to an 82-58 home win over Minnesota last Thursday. Bryant McIntosh added 20 points while becoming NU's single-season assists leader in the victory. The Wildcats shot 53.7 percent from field, including hitting 12 3-pointers, while limiting the Golden Gophers to 33.3 percent shooting.

Coupled with a 77-52 victory at Minneapolis on Jan. 9, the +49 scoring margin is the largest ever for the Wildcats in a season sweep of a current Big Ten team. The mark tops a +43 margin against Michigan during the 1966-67 campaign.

Sophomore guard Bryant McIntosh became Northwestern's single-season assist leader in the win over Minnesota. McIntosh enters Tuesday's game with 159 assists this season, besting the total of 157 posted by Tim Doyle during the 2006-07 campaign. His average of 6.6 assists per game ranks second in the Big Ten and 11th nationally.

Northwestern has a pair of Ohio natives on its roster in sophomore forward Gavin Skelly (Westlake) and freshman center Dererk Pardon (Cleveland). Pardon posted 9 points and 14 rebounds (7 offensive) in this season's first meeting with Ohio State on Jan. 6.

The Buckeyes won the first meeting between the teams this season 65-56 Jan. 6 in Evanston as the Wildcats shot just 31.3 percent from the field. Northwestern trailed by only one point with six minutes left but Ohio State was able to pull away down the stretch.

Scouting Ohio State
The Buckeyes are coming off a 79-68 loss at Wisconsin last Thursday. Freshman JaQuan Lyle led Ohio State with 27 points off the bench. Marc Loving leads a balanced scoring attack with an average of 13.0 points per game while Keita Bates-Diop contributes 11.7 points and a team-best 6.3 rebounds per contest. Kam Williams ranks first in the Big Ten in league play with a .538 3-point field goal percentage. Thad Matta is in his 12th season as the Buckeyes' head coach.