A win for the ages
There are big wins, and then there is the type of win Northwestern got on Sunday night in Madison.
The 66-59 upset of the No. 7 Badgers likely punched the Wildcats’ ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. Northwestern needs to win just two of its six remaining games to get the magic 10 conference wins that most experts think will assure a berth in the Big Dance.
So the question is whether the victory is the biggest in the regular season in school history. It gets our vote.
The Wildcats have notched some bigger upsets in their decidedly dismal history, but never has a game meant more. Given the historical implications (a team gunning for the school’s first-ever NCAA tournament bid), the venue (NU was 1-14 all-time at the Kohl Center going into the game), the odds (12-point underdogs and playing without leading scorer Scottie Lindsey) and the situation (Wisconsin had won eight straight, Northwestern was riding a two-game losing streak and had just dropped a home game to listless Illinois), there simply hasn’t been a bigger one.
We went back through the History section of the Northwestern media guide to search for comparable wins. The Wildcats have been playing basketball for 112 seasons but it’s rather easy to find important victories. There aren’t very many. That’s to be expected for a program with an all-time record of 1,060-1,473 (.418) and 506-1,060 (.323) in Big Ten play.
The criteria were simple: a win over a Top 10 team, with bonus points for winning on the road. We didn’t count NIT or Big Ten tournament victories – there weren’t any over Top 10 teams, anyway.
Surprisingly, the Wildcats have beaten a team ranked in the single digits 12 times going back to 1948-49, the first year rankings are included in the media guide. They included two wins over the No. 2 team in the nation, and three over the No. 3 team. Not too bad. (The Wildcats have never beaten the No. 1 team in the nation but came awfully close twice in 2010-11, when they lost by one point at home and then in overtime in Columbus to top-ranked Ohio State.)
So let’s take a trip down memory lane to look at what we think are the 10 biggest regular-season wins over the last 78 years of Northwestern basketball.
1. Northwestern 66 No. 7 Wisconsin 59, Feb. 12, 2017: This one gets the nod because, barring a complete collapse, it’s the win that will send Northwestern’s long awaited NCAA tournament invitation to the printer. Without Lindsey, on the road, enough said.
2. Northwestern 83 No. 4 Michigan State 65, Jan. 27, 1979: The Wildcats hand a loss (not the last loss, as many believe) to a Spartan team that featured a sophomore point guard named Magic Johnson and would go on to win the national championship a little more than two months later. Still, the Wildcats finished 6-21 (2-16 Big Ten) that season, so the team wasn’t going anywhere.
3. Northwestern 97 No. 8 Michigan 93 (OT), March 12, 1994: This one is special because it sewed up an NIT tournament bid for the Wildcats, who hadn’t played a post-season game since 1983. Northwestern needed the win to finish above .500 at 15-14 (5-13) and just squeaked it out against the then-Fab Four (Chris Webber had left early for the NBA the year before).
4. Northwestern 70 No. 7 Michigan State 63, Jan. 21, 2009: This was the biggest win of the Bill Carmody era. The Wildcats posted their first-ever – and still only – win at MSU’s deadly Breslin Center. The Spartans wound up winning the Big Ten and going all the way to the NCAA championship game, while Northwestern finished 17-14 (8-10) and made it to the NIT.
5. Northwestern 118 No. 5 West Virginia 109 (2OT), Dec. 27, 1958: The Wildcats needed two overtimes more than 100 points to knock off Jerry West and the Mountaineers, who would eventually make it to the NCAA final. That game was played at the old Chicago Stadium and was one of just five losses for WVU. NU finished 15-7 (8-6) that season and in a second-place tie with Michigan in the Big Ten.
6. Northwestern 83 No. 2 Illinois 82, March 5, 1956: This has to be the biggest upset in NU history. The Wildcats beat the dreaded Illini in the last game of the season for – get this – their only Big Ten win of the year. The Wildcats finished a horrific 2-20 (1-10) that season, but at least they got a win over their in-state rivals, who lost their last two games to finish second in the conference.
7. Northwestern 99 No. 2 Michigan 87, Jan. 29, 1977: The Wildcats shocked the eventual Big Ten champions and handed them one of just two losses in conference play. What makes it more remarkable is that the upset came three weeks after Michigan demolished NU 102-65 in Ann Arbor. Northwestern finished 9-18 (7-11) that season.
8. Northwestern 100 No. 3 Indiana 90 (OT), Feb. 13, 1954: The Wildcats knocked off the defending national champions, who would go on to win the Big Ten again that season and post a 20-4 (12-2) mark. It was undoubtedly the biggest win of the season for a Northwestern team that finished 9-13 (6-8), good enough for fifth in the conference.
9. Northwestern 79 No. 3 Minnesota 74, March 10, 1973: The Wildcats played the spoiler role, beating the Gophers in the last game of the season to give the Big Ten title to Indiana. It was a bright spot in an otherwise dull season as Northwestern finished 5-19 (2-12) and in the league basement.
10. Northwestern 81 No. 6 Michigan State 74, Jan. 16, 2012: The Spartans appear for a third time on the list as the Wildcats knocked off a MSU team that would go on to finish in a first-place tie in the Big Ten, win the Big Ten tournament and earn a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance. Northwestern finished 19-14 (8-10) to earn an NIT nod.