Winter 2010

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Northwestern is the quarterly alumni magazine for Northwestern University.
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Campus Life

100 Percent Juice

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juice

Courtesy of Northwestern Athletic Communications

The hometown lights shine for Wildcat senior point guard Michael “Juice” Thompson. The Chicago native attended Lincoln Park High School, where Chicagohoops.com rated him the No. 13 prospect in Illinois. Some scouts doubted his ability to compete at the Division I level because of his size and questioned whether he could run the team as a point guard. “That was fuel to my fire,” said the 5-foot-10 Thompson.

The questions about Thompson’s ability have been answered. He ranks 21st on the all-time scoring list at Northwestern (1,136 career points). He is second all-time at Northwestern in assists (381). Barring injury, he’s poised to shatter the school record for minutes played in a career, having started every game at Northwestern in the past three seasons. He is also sixth in career 3-point percentage at Northwestern and fifth in made 3-pointers. It’s that sweet shooting stroke that prompted Thompson’s nickname, which he came up with in seventh grade and has tattooed on his bicep. “I thought it up when I was shooting 3’s,” he said, “because I felt my jump shot was 100 percent pure, like juice.”