'Cats Square Off With Valparaiso Thursday at Allstate Arena

12/13/2017 1:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Nick Brilowski

NORTHWESTERN BASKETBALL: GAME DAY INFORMATION
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	BROADCAST	LIVE STATS
Thu., Dec. 14	Valparaiso	7 p.m.	Allstate Arena; Rosemont, Ill.	BTN and BTN2Go	SIDEARM
Radio: ESPN 1000 (Dave Eanet and Joey Meyer) TV: BTN (Dave Revsine and Jon Crispin) Social: Twitter (@NUMensBball and @NU_SportsLIVE) \| Instagram (@numensbball) \| Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern \| Valparaiso TICKETS

EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern continues a stretch of four straight games against local opponents Thursday when it hosts Valparaiso at Allstate Arena. Tip time is set for 7 p.m.

The Wildcats hosted Chicago State on Monday and head to DePaul on Saturday prior to a Dec. 19 home contest against Lewis.

NU is coming off a historic 96-31 victory over Chicago State on Monday. Vic Law led five Wildcats in double figures with 18 points and NU held the Cougars to 20 percent shooting from the field (8-40), including 2-of-19 in the first half. The 65-point margin of victory is the largest ever by NU. The previous best was 57 in a 77-20 win over University of Chicago Jan. 14, 1944. Chicago State's 31 points are just one more than the low by a Northwestern opponent since 1944. Oakland scored 30 points in a 68-30 loss to NU Nov. 21, 1998. The 'Cats led 55-8 at halftime with the eight points representing the fewest by an NU foe in a half during the shot clock era.

The Wildcats boast a team free throw percentage of .777, ranking them first in the Big Ten. Bryant McIntosh leads the way at 96.2 percent, having connected on 25 of his 26 attempts from the charity stripe.

McIntosh has 609 career assists, three shy of matching Iowa's Jeff Horner for 12th place in Big Ten history.

Northwestern leads the all-time series with Valparaiso, 8-2. Nine of the 10 matchups were played from 1970-79. The teams haven't met since an 80-65 Northwestern win Dec. 8, 1979.

Scouting Valparaiso
The Crusaders (8-2) have dropped their last two contests since opening the season with eight straight wins. Valparaiso fell 71-70 at Ball State last Saturday on a late 3-pointer by the Cardinals. Tevonn Walker leads Valpo with an averages of 16.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, but he missed the Ball State game due to illness. Nebraska transfer Bakari Evelyn contributes 10.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists per contest. Valparaiso second-year head coach Matt Lottich is a graduate of nearby New Trier High School in Wilmette.