Northwestern displayed their typical efficiency in an 81-65 win over Long Island. The Wildcats' standard offensive formula--limit turnovers and MAKE SHOTS--was in full effect, as Northwestern shot 59 percent from two and 39 percent from three. The Wildcat defense was good, not great, as they held the Blackbirds to 0.93 points per possession.That's Long Island's second lowest output of the season, but they hadn't played anybody good yet either. Regardless, this was a good start to a stretch that sees Northwestern play five games in 11 days leading up to Christmas, including a two game tournament at Madison Square Garden. Finals are over, let's play some hoops.

John Shurna had a fantastic shooting night, going 10 of 11 from the field to score 26 points. He also added 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 turnovers. Drew Crawford had a rare off night, scoring 8 points on a whopping 16 shots.

Wisconsin took care of a tuneup of their own, dispatching Wisconsin-Green Bay by a 70-56 score. The Badgers used sizzling 59 percent shooting from three to post 1.22 points per possession, the type of efficiency that is becoming ho-hum for Bo Ryan's team.

In our Wisconsin preview, we hypothesized that the Badgers would have to rely less on the three-pointer with the loss of Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon, pointing out that the duo took over half of the team's threes and that the returnees shot only 32 percent last season. So far, that hasn't been an issue at all: Wisconsin is shooting 37.1 percent from three, up from last season's 35.7 percent, and they are taking only slightly less of their shots from deep. Why no dropoff? A big reason is Jon Leuer: the senior is now taking a third of his shots from three (up from 17 percent last season), and he's hitting them at a 50 percent clip (up from 39 percent last season). It also helps that forwards Keaton Nankivil and Mike Bruesewitz are a combined 19 for 43 from three (44 percent).

It seems unlikely that the Wisconsin front line will continue to shoot this well from distance, but it's also unlikely that Josh Gasser and Tim Jarmusz will keep struggling at a combined 24 percent. The three-point shot may well remain an unexpected effective weapon for these Badgers.

Last night, Leuer/Nankivil/Bruesewitz combined to shoot 9 of 13 from three for 56 points on 26 shots. With front line production like that and a steady point guard in Jordan Taylor, it almost doesn't matter what the rest of the team does.

Tonight, it should be another tuneup as Michigan hosts North Carolina Central (6pm CT, BTN). NC Central is very short but can shoot the three, led by 6-2 junior Landon Clement (nearly 4 makes per game at 41 percent). The Eagles gave Indiana a tougher-than-expected test just before Thanksgiving, staying within single digits of the Hoosiers for most of the second-half, so this game could be close if Michigan doesn't come to play.

- Posted by Mike Portscheller