Northwestern University’s men’s basketball team will make just its second NCAA Tournament appearance in history taking on Boise State in a first round game Thursday in Sacramento.

The winner of the matchup between the 7-seeded Wildcats and the 10-seeded Broncos will advance to face the winner of the matchup featuring No. 2 UCLA and No. 15 University of North Carolina Ashville.

Wildcats, with 21 victories, this season had their second most wins in a single season in program history. 

Coached by Chris Collins, the squad established a new program record with 12 Big Ten Conference victories and tied for second in the league standings — the program’s top Big Ten finish since the 1958-59 season.

Thursday’s game will be broadcast at 6:35 p.m. on truTV. A limited number of tickets are available by calling the Northwestern Athletics Ticket Office at 888-GO-PURPLE.

Bill Smith is the editor and publisher of Evanston Now.

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