Northwestern Ready to Battle Illinois on Thursday Night

2/26/2020 4:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball

NORTHWESTERN MEN'S BASKETBALL: GAMEDAY INFORMATION
DATE	Opponent	TIME	LOCATION	Television	Live Stats
Thursdau, Feb. 26	Illinois	7:00 P.M.	Evanston, Ill. (Welsh-Ryan Arena)	Big Ten Network	Live Stats
Radio: ESPN AM 1000 Social: Twitter: @NUMensbball \| Instagram: @numensbball Game Notes \| Game Program

EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern Wildcats are set to take on the Illinois Fighting Illini on Thursday night in Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. on Big Ten Network and can be heard on ESPN AM 1000.

Thursday's matchup marks the 180th all-time meeting between the Wildcats and Fighting Illini and the second meeting this season. NU traveled downstate in January to compete with the then-ranked No. 24 Illini. Robbie Beran led the team in scoring for the first time with a career-high 17 points, including 50% shooting from three (3-for-6), in a tight game in Champaign.

The previous five matchups between the two B1G programs have been decided by an average of 4.0 points.

STORYLINES:

Young, The Giant: Ryan Young is one of two first years in the B1G and one of seven in Power 5 to average 9.0 or more points and more than 6.0 rebounds per game, while shooting at least 55% from the field.

Profiling Pat: Pat Spencer is one of five NU rookies, since at least 1992, to record 100 assists in a single season.

Gaining Experience: Northwestern has five underclassmen who are averaging more than 20.0 minutes of action in Big Ten games this season, which is the most of any school in the league.

QUOTABLES:

"There's bright spots in our game. As a team, we've shown we can play with anybody in the league. We just have to go off that and feed off each other's energy. We can compete with anyone."

- R-First Year Ryan Young