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.

CBK: Northwestern at Michigan

Over the past few seasons, I have been slowly attending games at the Big Ten football stadiums and basketball arenas. With a wide-open Sunday and Northwestern traveling to play Michigan at Crisler Arena (a Big Ten arena I had not attended a game at yet), I decided to road trip to the Northwestern men’s basketball game in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The game time was perfect for the road trip. A 2:30 pm ET (1:30 pm CT) start time allowed me to make the drive each way at a reasonable hour – I needed to leave our house in Chicago at 9 am and would be back home around 7 pm

Parking and Obtaining Tickets
Parking in the main lot by the arena is for parking passes (read season ticket holders) only. Thus, I parked in the lot across the street from the arena for $10.

There were some scalpers selling tickets around the arena, but the lowest price at the box office was $10. Rather than hassle with scalpers, I bought a ticket at the box office for $10 and sat in the upper level of the arena where the tickets cost $15.

The Game
In a game Northwestern desperately needed to win (after losing their first two in conference play), the Wildcats came back from a 17 point deficit to defeat Michigan 68-62.

Freshman Drew Crawford single handedly got Northwestern back in the game. Michigan had a 31-14 lead with 4:23 remaining in the first half, when Crawford went on a personal 11-0 run – draining a trio of three pointers and two free throws to get Northwestern to within six points.

In the second half, the game seesawed back and forth as Northwestern took a 10 point lead (59-49) only to see that lead disappear with 1:28 left in the game as Michigan took a 62-61 lead. Northwestern eventually eked out the much needed victory.