The Big Ten/ACC Challenge always provides a good barometer for where a team is during the preseason. On Wednesday night, Northwestern showed that they are still a mixed bag.

The Wildcats started fast and built a seemingly insurmountable 28-point lead early in the second half. Then, they almost squandered it all as Georgia Tech cut that advantage down to single digits in the closing minutes before Northwestern prevailed, 67-61.

It was the third straight win for Northwestern (6-1) since suffering their lone setback in a disappointing 19-point loss to Fresno State next week.

The Wildcats start Big Ten play on Saturday at Indiana. Whether they are ready or not depends on which half you watched.

Ryan Taylor scored 20 points to lead Northwestern, while Vic Law added 14 points and 9 rebounds and Dererk Pardon had 12 and 10.

Georgia Tech was paced by speedy point guard Jose Alvarado, who poured in 24 points and gave the Wildcats fits off the dribble.

Here are our three pointers:

The Cats looked dynamite in the first 24 minutes: It doesn't get much better than Northwestern's opening half and four minutes against Georgia Tech. The Wildcats started fast right out of the gate and never let up. They went on a 7-0 run to jump out to an early 13-5 lead. After a Ryan Taylor 3-pointer, it was 30-11, and Anthony Gaines hit a triple at the buzzer for a 40-20 lead at the break. Then, early in the second half, Taylor nailed back-to-back 3s to make it 50-22 with 16:11 left in the second half and the rout was on. Or so we thought. In the first half, Northwestern shot 48.1 percent from the floor and 45.5 from beyond the arc, while the Wildcats’ long arms harassed the overwhelmed Yellow Jackets into 25 percent shooting. The Cats lead in rebounding 23-13, assists 9-2 and points in the paint 16-10. Seven different Cats scored. Law had 10 points, Taylor and Gaines 8 apiece and seven Cats scored. About the only criticism you could have is that they've turned the ball over nine times.

Then, they almost blew up: After hitting just a quarter of its shots in the first half, Georgia Tech got hot in the second. With Alvarado acting as the sparkplug and driving into the lane at will, the Jackets went on a 17-4 run to get the lead down to 15 with 11 minutes left. An Alvarado layup cut the lead to 12. A pair of Khalid Moore free throws made it 57-47 with 7:40 remaining and the whole building was holding its breath. But clawing its way back into the game took a lot of energy out of Georgia Tech, which didn’t get the lead down to single digits until there was just 2:18 left, so it was too little, too late. Still, that efficient Wildcat offense was a shell of itself in the second half as the Jackets outscored them 39-17 over the last 16-plus minutes, and their bench wound up outscoring Northwestern’s 27-12. Law scored just four points in the second half and Gaines, a catalyst in the first half, was shut out.

Now, the going gets tough: A 6-1 record looks good on paper; the question is if the first seven-game stretch of the non-conference schedule got the Wildcats ready for early Big Ten play. And make no mistake, the Wildcats will have their work cut out for them with a road game against Indiana at always hostile Assembly Hall followed by a home matchup with No. 7 Michigan, the national runner-up from a year ago who just ripped No. 11 North Carolina. Coach Chris Collins has been busy trying to work two transfers and three of his four new freshmen into the rotation. If Wednesday night’s game is an indicator, transfers Ryan Taylor, who played a game-high 37 minutes, and AJ Turner, who played 25, are going to play heavy minutes, along with holdovers Law (35 minutes), Gaines (31) and Pardon (30). Freshmen Miller Kopp (13) and Pete Nance (10) will be role players – at least early in the season, until they get more experience – along with Barret Benson (10) and Jordan Ash (9).