Super Bowl Sunday Basketball: Indiana at Northwestern

Today I attended a sporting event on Super Bowl Sunday (that was not the Super Bowl). Northwestern scheduled their Sunday afternoon game for 1:30 pm CT, which was perfect timing in order to attend the game and still get back to wherever fans were planning to watch the Super Bowl.

The Game
Northwestern got out to an initial 13-2 lead and their lead never dipped below nine points as the Wildcats defeated Indiana convincingly 78-61. This was Northwestern’s first three-game winning streak versus Indiana since the 1930s – there are a lot of firsts for Northwestern this season.

A Day on Campus: Michigan at Northwestern

The main reason I bought Northwestern men’s basketball season tickets this year is that the Ultimate Sports Wife is a Ph.D. student at Northwestern University. We met in undergrad at Northwestern so I do have “another” reason to attend. However, with Nicole spending much of her time on campus, I realized that buying season tickets 1) gives her an incentive to go to campus to work, 2) allows me to attend the basketball games and 3) allows us to spend more time together since we are both on campus - #1 and #3 giving me good husband points.

Today was one of those days. Nicole needed to drive to campus by 2 pm for “office hours” – where she instructs her students how to perform better in class. Since Northwestern was playing at 6 pm versus Michigan, I decided to ride to campus with her and spend a few hours in the sociology department surfing the internet and working.

Parking
As usual I parked in the neighborhood near Welsh-Ryan Arena since you can park for free on the street.

The Game
The game was close through the first half, but Northwestern started to pull away with 10 minutes left in the game. That’s when Drew Crawford stepped up his game and scored all 11 of his second half points (he had 17 points total) to defeat Michigan 67-52. The win gave Northwestern their first sweep of Michigan since 1967.


During the game I ran into my fraternity pledge father and deadspin.com columnist, Benoit Denizet-Lewis. He’s writing about Northwestern’s quest for its first NCAA Tournament bid. At this point in the season, Northwestern has played their most difficult games in Big Ten play. Northwestern must now defeat the teams they are “supposed” to in order to be eligible for the bid.

Women’s College Basketball: Minnesota at Northwestern

As Nicole and I have done for Northwestern men’s basketball games this season, we drove to campus today. However, the Northwestern women’s basketball team was home rather than the men’s team. I dropped Nicole off at the Sociology department and drove to Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Obtaining Tickets
I had a free ticket for the game since it was included in my men’s basketball season ticket package. With men’s basketball season tickets, I received one free ticket for a women’s game.

The Game
Northwestern squeaked out a victory over Minnesota 61-60 as Brittany Orban missed the first of two free throws but made the second to give Northwestern a one-point lead with four seconds left (this was after missing 1 of 2 free throws to tie the game at 60 apiece). Rather than Minnesota calling a timeout to make a play with four seconds left, they ran the court as Kiara Buford missed the last second shot attempt that would have given Minnesota the win.

Halftime Show
Northwestern hired Red Panda for their halftime show. Red Panda is the Asian woman who flips bowls from her foot onto her head while riding a unicycle (appears to be 10 feet high). I have seen her several times at NBA game (mainly the Chicago Bulls), so I was surprised to see her at the halftime show of the Northwestern women’s basketball game – it does not seem to make financial sense for a women’s basketball game.

In what must have been a first, she missed the four-bowl flip on her first try. She must have been distracted since Willie the Wildcat was tossing her the bowls.

Post Game Dining
After a few hours in the department we ate dinner at Addis Abeba – an Ethiopian restaurant located at 1322 Chicago Ave. in Evanston, IL.

CBK: #13 Wisconsin at Northwestern

Tonight was one of those nights Northwestern needed to win. After moving into the rankings, at #25, for the first time since 1969, Northwestern did not start off conference play well, losing to Illinois and Michigan St. They rallied from 17 points down to defeat Michigan on Sunday and tonight were facing (#13 AP) Wisconsin. A win would give Northwestern some momentum, while a loss would leave them at 1-3 in Big Ten play.

Northwestern had a one-point lead with 5:04 remaining in the game even though they had not scored a basket from 14:37 to 6:13 during the second half. However, Wisconsin’s Trevon Hughes made three 3-pointers to lead Wisconsin on a 9-0 run and take a 55-48 lead. At this point it was too late for Northwestern to stage a comeback and Wisconsin ended up winning 60-50.

CBK: Texas-Pan American at Northwestern

Northwestern needed to win tonight after losing two straight to Illinois and Michigan St. Although Northwestern played poorly (19 turnovers and shot 32%), they were able to pull out the victory over Texas-Pan American (who are now 1-16 after the loss) 53-44.

Obtaining Tickets
I already had my ticket to the game since I bought season tickets at the start of the season.

Post Game Dining
After the game I picked up Papa John’s for the wife and myself. My strategy is to attend the Northwestern men’s basketball games while Nicole (a Sociology Ph.D.) works at the Sociology department – then we generally eat after the game.

WCBK: Chicago St. at Northwestern

After waiting for an hour between the men’s and women’s games, the Northwestern women’s team took the court. Although expected, it was amazing to see there were only 567 people (according to nusports.com) who stuck around for the women’s game even though it was free. 5,098 attended the men’s game versus Stanford.

The Game
Northwestern jumped out to an 11-0 lead and never looked back defeating Chicago St. 85-64. Amy Jaeschke scored 29 points for the Wildcats, while Brittany Orban scored 20. It was the first time since January 18, 2006 that two Wildcats scored 20 points in the same game.

CBK: Stanford at Northwestern

Today with my season ticket already in hand I headed up to Welsh-Ryan Arena for the Northwestern men’s basketball game versus Stanford. In addition to the men’s game, the Northwestern women’s team was playing Chicago St. at 4:00 pm (an hour after the men’s game ended). The women’s game was free with a ticket to the men’s contest.

Parking
For the first time I parked on Central St. in front of Ryan Field – there is a section of parking directly west of the main parking lot where four cars can park for free.

The Game
Northwestern and Stanford played neck and neck until Northwestern took a 60-50 lead with over four minutes left in the game, but Stanford cut the lead to one point with 1:46 left. In the past, Northwestern would fall apart and lose this game. But this year appears to be different. Michael Thompson made a three-pointer to get the lead back to four and the Wildcats beat the Cardinal 70-62. Northwestern is now 9-1 on the season – their best start since the 1993-94 season.

CBK: North Florida at Northwestern

On a normal night, I would not attend a Northwestern men’s basketball game instead of a Chicago Blackhawks game. However, that was not the case tonight. Earlier this year, I bought Northwestern men’s basketball season tickets for the first time since the 2004-05 season.

My reasoning was the same as it was that year – the Ultimate Sports Wife is a Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern University. By having season tickets, we could drive to Evanston together. Then I drop her off at the department before the game so she could work, go to the game and comeback to the department after the game. Plus, we can eat dinner together before or after the game depending on the game time.

Pre Game Dining
Tonight we ate at Buffalo Wild Wings which recently opened in Evanston on November 23. For some reason, I can lure Nicole into attending a sporting event if she knows we will dine at BW3 in conjunction with the event.

The Game
Northwestern routed North Florida 84-54 for its seventh consecutive win. This is Northwestern’s longest winning streak since they won eight straight during the 1993-94 season.

Doubleheader Day: Tennessee St. at Northwestern

Since I have season tickets to Northwestern men’s basketball, I decided to attend yesterday’s game even though I was also planning to attend the Chicago Bears Sunday night football game versus the Philadelphia Eagles. Blackhawks Jim and Blackhawks Jimmy Jr. were planning to pick me up from Northwestern, pick Nicole up from home and then drive to the Bears game for Tailgater Rob’s tailgate which started at 3:30 pm – quite the feat given the Northwestern game started at 1 pm.

I had considered not attending the game since the Northwestern women were playing immediately afterwards on the same ticket. However, I realized that was a dumb reason not to attend the men’s game so I moseyed my way up to Evanston.

The Game
Michael Thompson scored a career-high 31 points. He scored his final 13 points in the last 5:04 of the game to lead Northwestern to a 16-1 run and a 69-62 victory.

Rushing Ryan Field: #17 Wisconsin at Northwestern

For the first time since October 2, 2004 I rushed the field at Ryan Field. That day, Northwestern defeated Ohio St. for the first time since 1971 and the first time at home since 1956.

The Game
Yesterday Northwestern defeated Wisconsin 33-31 to give the Wildcats three consecutive victories in November. Northwestern took a 27-14 lead at halftime and never relinquished the lead. Once time expired Northwestern students stormed the field and we followed suit.

During the second quarter of the game, a football was thrown in my friends and my direction. I grabbed the ball and thinking it was similar to a beach ball threw it to my friend to avoid the security guard who was after the ball. My friend in turn threw the ball a couple sections over. Security then ordered both of us to the lower level of the stadium where we had to talk with University Police. Of course, the police said no harm, no foul and we walked back to our seats. We even took a picture with the security guard later in the game. However, for a moment we thought we would be ejected from the stadium.

Tailgating and Obtaining Tickets
Once again I tailgated before the game with my friends from college. However, this time they did not have an extra ticket for me. But as I have stated in the past the best place to buy tickets for a college football game is in the parking lot while tailgating. While we tailgated, fans would walk by holding up their fingers – meaning they needed tickets. The game was not sold out so it was people looking for tickets that were cheaper than at the box office.

Around 1:45 pm I saw a guy holding up two tickets from a tailgate across the aisle – meaning he was trying to sell those tickets. I walked over to ask him how much he wanted. He said $20. Another guy at our tailgate needed a ticket so we accepted his offer. I decided to spend $20 since earlier in the day ticket brokers wanted either $35 or $40 each for tickets. Also, since a lot of people appeared to be looking for tickets I figured they also wanted to pay around $20 for tickets.

CBK: #11 Butler at Northwestern

Last night Northwestern hosted (#10 ESPN/USA Today, #11 AP) – one of the highest ranked opponents to come to Evanston for a non-conference game. I already had my ticket since I purchased season tickets before the start of the season.

Pre Game Dining
Before the game I ate at Chili’s in downtown Evanston. Downtown Evanston has many different restaurants to dine at before or after Northwestern basketball.

The Game
Even though Northwestern was playing their first game without Kevin Coble (their leading scorer and rebounder for the past three seasons), Northwestern played Butler tight during the first half. However, Butler went on a 14-2 run to start the second half and won the game 67-54. It was Butler’s first win in Evanston since 1947-48.