Northwestern has a new scoring king.
Fifth-year guard Boo Buie broke the men’s basketball program’s career record for points when he drained a long 3-pointer midway through the first half Thursday night against Michigan at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston.
Buie entered the game four points behind John Shurna’s record of 2,038, set from 2008-12. Buie, who arrived in Evanston in 2019, took advantage of the extra year of eligibility the NCAA offered student-athletes for the COVID-19-affected 2020-21 season.
The 6-foot-2 guard from Albany, N.Y., was fourth in the Big Ten in both scoring (19 ppg) and assists (5.2 per game) entering Thursday. He averaged 17.3 points and 4.5 assists last season, when he made the All-Big Ten first team and led the Wildcats to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Northwestern took an 18-8 record (9-6 Big Ten) into Thursday’s game as it seeks to solidify the program’s first back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths. ESPN projected the Wildcats as a No. 9 seed in its most recent bracketology update.
Next up for Buie is the program record for games played. He can tie Drew Crawford’s mark of 143 on Wednesday at Maryland and break it on March 2 against Iowa.
