Northwestern @ DePaul preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 8, 2018 ) DePaul 68, Northwestern 75

Pete Nance vs. Paul Reed will be the matchup to watch Saturday when Northwestern plays at DePaul in a battle of Chicago area schools. The two big men - Nance for the Wildcats and Reed for the Blue Demons - lead their respective team in points, rebounds and blocks.

Reed has a year on Nance and a significant advantage in all three areas - particularly in blocked shots, where he ranked seventh in Division I entering Friday with 3.42 per game - and the Blue Demons have been the better team overall, but a few chinks in their armor have appeared recently, leaving an opening for the Wildcats to strike in the 34th installment of the rivalry. Reed drew even with William & Mary's Nathan Knight for the top spot in Division I in double-doubles with nine by recording 19 points and 10 rebounds in a too close for comfort win over Cleveland State on Wednesday. Nance has registered a pair of double-doubles during his sophomore season and isn't the force that Reed is on the defensive end, but will step out beyond the arc with more frequency and it will be interesting to see if his counterpart follows him. Neither player saw much action in last season's meeting, which the Wildcats won 75-68 by overcoming a 15-point deficit in the second half, giving them four straight wins in the series which it trails 20-13.

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network

ABOUT NORTHWESTERN (5-5): Freshman Boo Buie has had an interesting December for the Wildcats, bookending a pair of 20-point games around two contests in which he scored 11 total points. The 6-2 guard exploded for a career-high 26 points, the most in a game this season and most since Vic Law had 26 points last November for Northwestern, which gave No. 18 Michigan State all it could handle before falling 77-72 in a Big Ten game. Buie struggled in his first five games, scoring 18 total points and making one 3-pointer, but has three games in double figures in the last five and hit a career-best five 3s against Michigan State.

ABOUT DEPAUL (11-1): Playing alongside more experienced teammates hasn't afforded Romeo Weems many opportunities to shine, but one of those came against Cleveland State. The freshman scored 14 points - his fifth game in double figures this season, including the first eight of the second half as the Blue Demons fought hard to hold the Vikings at bay. Weems, a 6-7 forward who is the top 3-point shooter (45.5 percent) among DePaul's regulars, is closing in on giving the Blue Demons five players averaging double figures in points.

TIP-INS

1. The Blue Demons have won four non-conference road games in a season for the first time since 1993-94.

2. Buie scored 26 points one game after teammate and fellow freshman Ryan Young put up 25 points and 12 rebounds against SIU-Edwardsville.

3. Reed took over eighth place on DePaul's all-time blocks list with 109 and needs 45 more to pass George Mikan, who is in second place, well behind Dallas Comegys (297).

PREDICTION: DePaul 83, Northwestern 77