Nov. 12, 2009

Northern Illinois at Northwestern
Welsh-Ryan Arena (8,117)
Evanston, Ill. • 7 p.m.
Streaming Video: BigTenNetwork.com (Rob Coons and Mark Carman)
Audio: WYLL-AM 1160 and wgnradio.com (Dave Eanet and Shon Morris)
Gametracker: NUsports.com
In-game Twitter updates: @NU_SportsLIVE
Watch a Video Game Preview
Northwestern Game Notes (PDF)

EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern tips off its 2009-10 season Friday evening as it hosts Northern Illinois. The contest gets underway at 7 p.m. at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Live streaming video of the contest can be accessed at BigTenNetwork.com while Gametracker can be found at NUsports.com.

NU undergraduate students can take advantage of a special offer courtesy of Buffalo Wild Wings as the first 150 students can eat free in the N Club beginning at 6 p.m.

Northwestern is 6-3 in home openers and 5-4 in season openers under head coach Bill Carmody. Last year, the Wildcats defeated Central Arkansas 81-39 in a contest that served as both the home and season opener for the 'Cats.

NU returns four starters and 12 letterwinners overall from last year's squad which went 17-14 overall and 8-10 in Big Ten play while appearing in the National Invitation Tournament.

Junior point guard Michael Thompson is back in the mix after leaving the team in assists each of the last two seasons. Thompson averaged 9.9 points and 3.7 assists per game while posting an impressive 2.19 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Bill Carmody is in his 10th season as the head coach at Northwestern. He is the second-winningest coach in school history and has a 120-149 record during his time in Evanston.

Scouting Northern Illinois
• Northern Illinois has been picked to finish second in the Mid-American Conference West Division preseason poll behind only Central Michigan. The Huskies finished fifth in the MAC West Division last season, going 5-11 in league play and 10-20 overall.
• Junior guard Darion Anderson was named to the preseason West Division All-MAC team for the second straight season. A year ago, Anderson averaged a team-leading 16.9 points per game and was named second-team all-conference in the process.
• NIU posted exhibition wins over Aurora (93-59) and Marygrove College (120-70). Colorado transfer Xavier Silas scored a game-high 28 points in the victory over Marygrove last Friday.

Up Next...
The Wildcats return to action next Wednesday, Nov. 18 when they host Butler. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. Tickets can be ordered online at NUsports.com or by calling 847-491-CATS.