GAME NOTES: The Northwestern Wildcats hope to build off a torrid shooting display when they welcome a one-loss Central Michigan club to Welsh-Ryan Arena on Wednesday night.

Northwestern opened a five-game homestand on Sunday with a 101-49 pasting of Mississippi Valley State. The inferior opponent was a welcome sight for the Wildcats following three straight losses to Northern Iowa, Georgia Tech and Butler.

Alex Olah recorded 17 points and 10 rebounds, Nathan Taphorn contributed 16 points off the bench and the Wildcats shot a sizzling 57.4 percent from the field in the rout.

The 101 points were the most for Northwestern since dropping 103 on Dartmouth in a double-overtime win on Dec. 29, 1990.

Despite the recent explosion, the Wildcats are still only netting 64.8 ppg. Their defense has stepped up by holding the opposition to 59.4 ppg while limiting them to 40.7 percent shooting.

Olah, who has logged three double-doubles this season, leads the team in scoring (11.6 ppg) and rebounding (7.2 rpg) and has averaged two blocks per game. Tre Demps is second in scoring at 10.6 ppg, while Bryant McIntosh is netting just under 10 ppg.

Central Michigan also shot the lights out in its previous outing, as the Chippewas knocked down a school-record 20 3-pointers in a 94-61 drubbing of SIU Edwardsville on Dec. 6.

Braylon Rayson was 4-of-5 from distance en route to a team-high 19 points. Luke Meyer and Josh Kozinski added 12 points apiece and Chris Fowler scored 10 for the Chippewas, who improved to 6-0 at home.

CMU made its first four 3-point attempts and sprinted out to a 14-2 lead just over three minutes in. The Chippewas went on to make 14-of-23 3-point tries in the opening half as they took a commanding 54-26 lead that was never threatened.

The Chippewas added six more makes from behind the arc in the second half to best the previous school record of 16 3-pointers.

The easy win certainly boosted CMU's offensive efficiency ratings across the board. Rayson upped his scoring average to 11.4 ppg, while Fowler continues to lead the way in both scoring (14.6 ppg) and assists (6.7 apg). John Simons is second on the squad netting 12.6 ppg with a team-best 6.1 rpg average. He's shooting a healthy 60 percent from the floor and the squad is hitting at a 47.9 percent rate overall.

The only loss on CMU's schedule thus far came in its only true road test -- an 84-73 setback at Bradley earlier this month. The Chippewas have not beaten Northwestern in three previous meetings, but those bouts occurred back in the mid-90s. Expect the visitors to come away with a solid road win.