John Shurna doesn't want much attention brought to him if he breaks the school's all-time career scoring record against Minnesota at Welsh-Ryan Arena Saturday. He'd rather focus on getting more victories for NU as they try to make the NCAA tournament for the first time. Every win from here on out is crucial.

"Every game is a dogfight, especially defending our home court," Shurna said. "Every game has had the feel of a must-win game for a while now. We have to go out there with the mentality of leaving it all out there on the floor."

Billy McKinney, who played at NU from 1974-77, holds the record with 1,900 points. Shurna heads into Saturday's game with a career total of 1,884.

"If your team is doing well, then you're helping your team win," Shurna said. "I think I'd like to say I've never focused on individual goals. If I don't score the rest of the season and we win our games, I'll be happy."

"Being the leading scorer in school history is a huge accomplishment," forward Drew Crawford said. "But I think what is more impressive is that it doesn't matter to him."

Coach Bill Carmody had asked to see more of Shurna's selfishness over the past couple fo weeks, which has led to the senior forward averaging 25 points over the past two games in losses to Purdue and Indiana. Shurna has been one of those guys for the Wildcats who have played close to, or at, 40 minutes.

"Now we have to win," Carmody said. "I wish I would have taken him out for a minute here or a mintue there, but he's taken on himself to put points on the board."

Crawford was asked if Saturday's game is a must-win for NU. After thinking a moment Crawford said, "Yeah, I think so. It is a game we really need to get, so we're going to be excited for it.

"We've split with them, last year we were 2-1 against them and the year before 1-1," Crawford said. "It's always a good matchup against them. They've got some long guys inside like Michigan State does and they block a lot of shots. They're pretty intense."