Cats look to sweep Wisconsin for first time in 27 years
Northwestern hasn't swept a season series over Wisconsin since head coach Chris Collins was a senior at Duke. But the Wildcats will get a chance to win two games over the Badgers for the first time since 1995-96 on Sunday night in Madison (5:30 p.m., BTN).
Both teams have been struggling of late, with Northwestern losing two straight games and Wisconsin dropping three of its last four. One of those losses for the Badgers came at the hands of the Wildcats just 13 days ago at Welsh-Ryan Arena, so the two opponents are familiar with each other.
The Wildcats are looking to not only end a 27-year streak, but also get their first win in the Kohl Center since 2018. To do that, though, they will need to forget about Thursday's 68-51 loss to Michigan.
That contest followed a similar script as a loss to Iowa just two days prior. The Cats were engaged in a bitter rock fight in the first half, going into the break down 26-25. They even came out strong to start the second half, scoring the first four points to take at lead.
But that advantage disappeared when Hunter Dickinson scored with 17:27 left in the game, and unfortunately for Northwestern, it never came back. Michigan went on to score 42 points in the second half, going 15-for-27 from the field and 4-for-7 from deep in the half, to pull away for an easy win.
Northwestern did just the opposite. The field was not its friend in the second half (12-for-30 shooting), but three-point land was the Wildcats' bitter enemy. It seemed like the only thing possible after a 3-for-13 first half from beyond the arc was improvement, but Northwestern actually got worse, going 0-6 from downtown in the second period.
Scoring was an issue all night. Only Boo Buie and Chase Audige scored 10 or more points. No one else scored more than six.
This recipe is not sustainable for the Cats, so if they are looking to make a post-season push, something will need to change. Brooks Barnhizer recognized this in the post game presser, noting a need to "[take] the pressure off Chase a bit as much as [they] can."
Luckily for Northwestern, the opportunity to bounce back is at hand against a Wisconsin team that is a game back of the Wildcats at 5-6 in the Big Ten.
In a gut-wrenching 66-63 win over Wisconsin on Jan. 23, the Wildcats held the upper hand in every shooting category, especially free throws. The Cats also limited Wisconsin's two leading scorers, Steven Crowl and Chucky Hepburn, to 7-of-23 shooting. That Badger duo is responsible for nearly 25 points per game, so preventing them from going off again should be a point of focus for Northwestern.
More players will need to get involved offensively for Northwestern to help out Audige and Buie, especially Ty Berry and Robbie Beran. Berry has scored in single digits in five of the last six games, while Beran went 1-for-8 shooting and scored a total of just six points in the Wildcats' consecutive losses to Iowa and Michigan.
Northwestern is 6-5 in the Big Ten and currently a 10th-seed in ESPN bracketologist Joe Lundardi's latest NCAA Tournament field. The Wildcats have a chance to solidify their spot in the field in the next two games, against two teams below them in the league standings: Wisconsin, and then Ohio State at home on Thursday night. It's too early to call either game a "must-win,” but they are both critical to the team's mission.
The Wildcats appeared tired down the stretch in their losses to Iowa and Michigan. But they got a day off following Thursday night's loss to the Wolverines, their first one in two weeks. That should help get their legs under them.
Northwestern can't overreact to losing two in a row. As Collins pointed out on Thursday night, that's just life in the Big Ten.
"In the Big Ten, everyone has beat each other," he said. "There's not a team outside of Purdue that hasn't had a tough loss or a tough week where they lose two [games]."