Northwestern has a new scoring king.
Fifth-year guard Boo Buie broke the men’s basketball program’s career record for points Thursday night when he drained a long 3-pointer midway through the first half of a 76-62 victory 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. He made a layup on the opening possession, then had to wait for the record breaker as the Wildcats fell behind 16-5.
With 9 minutes, 59 seconds to go in the half, Buie’s 3 from well past the arc cut the NU deficit to four.
He finished with 16 points to push his career total to 2,050 and added seven assists. The Wildcats (19-8, 10-6 Big Ten) also got 20 points from Ryan Langborg and 19 points and 12 rebounds from Brooks Barnhizer to improve to 8-0 in conference home games.
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 is tied for third in the conference 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.
Buie made two free throws and Langborg followed with a pair of 3s to give Northwestern a 51-44 lead with 14:20 remaining. Terrance Williams II answered with two buckets from the line, but Michigan didn’t get closer. The Wildcats held a double-digit lead inside the final seven minutes.
Nimari Burnett scored 15 points for Michigan (8-19, 3-13), which has lost four straight and nine of its last 10.
