UNO GAME NOTES | NORTHWESTERN GAME NOTES
EVANSTON, Illinois – The University of New Orleans men's basketball team will look to win its third-consecutive game as the Privateers will take on the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday, Nov. 28, in Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tipoff for that contest is slated for 7 p.m. (CST) and will be broadcast on the Internet at
www.UNOPrivateers.com.
UNO enters the contest 2-2 on the year and riding the crest of a two-game winning streak after rolling past Pensacola Christian, 94-57, last Thursday in Lakefront Arena and downing Bradley, 64-51, on Wednesday in Peoria. The Privateers have a tough challenge ahead of them, however, as the Wildcats are off to a 4-1 start, including a 67-62 win over Missouri on Tuesday in the consolation championship game of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Missouri.
"It's exciting to be 2-2," head coach
Mark Slessinger said. "I'd feel really, really good being 3-2 heading home to go uptown. This is a big game for us because it's the next game, first and foremost, and we know that in the process of us becoming a championship level team we have to perform at a high level tomorrow night. We've got to come in and compete quickly, we've got to get off to a great start in both halves and we've got to win one possession at a time, not get drug down by mistakes, not lose our energy and not lose our focus."
As a team, New Orleans is averaging 73.5 points, 40.0 rebounds, 13.0 assists, 8.5 steals and 2.3 blocks per game. Junior guard
Christavious Gill is one of three UNO players averaging double figures offensively and leads the team with 13.8 points per game. Sophomore wing
Michael Zeno is next with 10.8 points per game while junior forward
Erik Thomas follows with a 10.3 average.
Senior forward
Kevin Hill paces the team with 9.0 rebounds per game and sophomore
Travin Thibodeaux headlines the defense with four blocked shots. Gill leads the Privateers with 2.8 assists and 2.5 steals per contest.
New Orleans is connecting at a .408 clip from the field, hitting 97-of-238 shots from the floor, and 25-of-88 tries from beyond the 3-point arc (.431), while allowing opponents to shoot .444 overall (92-of-207) and .295 from 3-point land (26-of-88). Privateer foes are averaging 70.5 points, 34.2 rebounds, 13.3 assists, 7.0 steals and 4.5 blocks so far in 2015-16.
"We've got to continue to try and strive to put good stretches together and not just single possessions or two possessions," Slessinger said. "We've got to become a four- and five-possession team offensively and defensively where we string together very, very good runs and good possessions to where we can build on leads and not lose our focus."
The Wildcats, meanwhile, are averaging 75.4 points, 34.4 rebounds, 16.6 assists, 4.8 steals and 3.2 blocks per game. Bryant McIntosh leads a balanced Northwestern offense with 18.2 points per game while Tre Demps, Alex Olah and Aaron Falzon follow with respective scoring averages of 16.0, 11.6 and 9.0. Olah paces the team with 6.8 rebounds per game and has five of the team's 16 blocks. In addition to leading the team in scoring, McIntosh also headlines the squad with 6.0 assists and 1.2 steals per outing.
Northwestern is hitting 46.3 percent of its shots from the field, connecting on 130-of-281 field goal attempts, including a 48-of-124 showing from beyond the 3-point line (.387). The Wildcats' defense has allowed opponents to post a 40.8 shooting percentage (119-of-292) and a 33.0 clip from 3-point land (37-of-112). Northwestern opponents are averaging 70.2 points, 36.2 rebounds, 16.4 assists, 5.2 steals and 1.4 blocks per game.
"They're very talented offensively – might be the best overall offensive team that we face this year," Slessinger added. "They've got great size and skill. They're extremely well coached…They're really, really good offensively and we know this is a big challenge for us. They're two bigs are big. They've got 6-10 and 7-foot bigs and we know that we'll have to try and use our small advantages to make up some ground there."
Saturday's game between New Orleans and Northwestern marks the second time the two teams will meet on the hardwood and the Wildcats hold a 1-0 lead in the all-time series after posting a 65-54 victory back on Dec. 29, 1978 in the All College Tournament in Oklahoma City.
Following the game at Northwestern, UNO will continue its four-game road swing on Wednesday, Dec. 2, when they return to New Orleans and head across town play at Tulane before playing at Ball State on Saturday, Dec. 5. The Privateers' next home game will be Saturday, Dec. 12, when UNO plays host to Williams Baptist at 6:15 p.m. in Lakefront Arena.
Tickets to that game and future Privateer sporting events can be purchased by clicking
HERE or by calling the UNO Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263).
