Game of the Week: North Central at Northwestern - Men's Basketball
UMAC Game of the Week Archives
ST. PAUL -- The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Game of the Week is a feature that takes place each week throughout the conference portion of the season with one contest being selected and highlighted as the UMAC Game of the Week.
This week's Game of the Week will take place on Saturday, January 2nd at 3 p.m. in St. Paul as North Central University travels to the University of Northwestern in men's basketball action. The Eagles and Rams currently sit in a three-way tie with St. Scholastica for the number one spot in conference standings all with a 3-0 record.
About the Eagles
The University of Northwestern men’s basketball team enters Saturday’s contest with a 10-1 overall mark and 3-0 record in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) play. The Eagles, who have won their last five games, are playing their first of five home games in the month of January. UNW is 5-0 when playing on its home court this season.
The key to UNW’s success this season has been balance, as Head Coach Tim Grosz currently has six players averaging in double figures entering the weekend, led by reigning UMAC Player of the Year Michael Carney, who leads the squad with his average of 13 points per game. The Eagles are shooting better than 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from long range.
About the Rams
North Central will come into the match up with The University of Northwestern looking to break a losing streak to their friendly rivals to the east that dates back to December of 2010. After making the UMAC playoffs last year, the Rams are looking to get back to the conference post-season for the third time in four years. Their early season schedule has provided great preparation ahead of Saturday’s important tilt with the most dominant team in the UMAC over the last two seasons.
The Rams are fresh off a trip to Puerto Rico where they dropped games against St. Marys College of Maryland and an overtime thriller versus Carthage College. Prior to their holiday trip the Rams were on a three game UMAC win-streak including a victory over the University of Minnesota-Morris that saw NCU overcome a 22-point first half deficit. The next night the Rams ran away from Crown College for a 102-84 win over Crown College.
Balanced scoring and shot distribution are the key ingredients to the Rams success this year. Ten players have played at least six games for NCU with eight averaging more than 10 minutes of playing time. Five players are averaging double-figure scoring for North Central with five different leading scorers over their first ten games. NCU is also among the top three point shooting teams in the UMAC, firing .409 from behind the arc with a league high 99 made three pointers. Joel Cline is the Rams leader in both scoring (15.5 ppg) and rebounding (6.9 rpg) while Cody Martin is leading the UMAC with 4.7 assists per game thus far.
Game Notes
- UNW went a remarkable 28-2 in the 2015 calendar year, including a 14-0 record of its home court.
- Josh High needs 33 more made three pointers to break the NCU career record (238).
- Northwestern owns a 69-13 all-time record against North Central University. The Eagles have won 21 of the last 22 meetings.
- Along with Joel Cline, Travis Voigt (14.4), Jared High (13.5), Josh High (12.3) and Isaiah Rustad (10.3) are also averaging double figure points per game for the Rams.
- UNW’s last conference loss came on February 22, 2014, when the College of St. Scholastica edged the Eagles 51-50.
- Both NCU and UNW enter the game without a conference loss (3-0).
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