Just last month, Northwestern had a 3-0 Big Ten record and a No. 19 national ranking.
That seems like a long, long time ago.
The reeling Wildcats lost their sixth straight game on Wednesday night, 68-52, to No. 10 Wisconsin in Madison.
It was Northwestern’s seventh straight game against a ranked opponent, so the losses haven’t been unexpected. The bigger issue is that the Wildcats lost every one of those six straight games by double figures.
On Wednesday night, Northwestern never led and didn’t really threaten the Badgers at the Kohl Center.
Wisconsin came out firing from deep, draining five of its first seven from beyond the arc to build a 21-13 lead. But then Chase Audige got hot to give NU some hope.
He drilled one corner three-pointer, after which he drew a technical foul for saying something to the Wisconsin bench. Later, he drilled another triple from the same spot and got fouled. Though he missed the free throw, Wisconsin’s lead was down to four, at 36-32.
Wisconsin pushed the lead back to double figures early in the second half before missing eight straight shots and going scoreless for 4:38. A Miller Kopp jumper cut the lead to five points at the 16:19 mark, but just when the Wildcats got to within striking distance, the Badgers slammed the door on them.
The Badgers went on a 9-0 run to swell the lead back to 14 and put the game out of reach. They added a 10-0 run a little while later to increase the bulge to 21, at 68-47, their largest of the game, with 4:14 left
The rest of the game was garbage time.
Audige led Northwestern with 16 points, while Miller Kopp added 10. Pete Nance finished with eight points and 12 rebounds.
Wisconsin had four players in double figures, led by Tyler Wahl’s 14.
Here are our takeaways from the loss that dropped Northwestern below the .500 mark at 6-7 overall and 3-6 in Big Ten play:
Free throws were the difference in the first half: Northwestern trailed Wisconsin 41-34 at halftime despite scoring one more basket than the Badgers, 15-14.
How did that happen? The free-throw line.
The Badgers hit seven of eight from the charity stripe, while Audige missed Northwestern’s only free throw on an attempt to finish what would have been a four-point play. That’s a strong indicator that Wisconsin was attacking the rim a lot more than the Wildcats were.
The Badgers committed seven fouls in the half, but just one was a shooting foul. Meanwhile, Northwestern committed 10 fouls in all, including two each on Audige, Kopp and Boo Buie. Four Badgers launched at least two freebies from the line.
The offense tanked in the second half: Northwestern’s offense was efficient in the first half, as the Wildcats finished with 34 points on 51.7% shooting. They generated a lot of open looks and had an 18-12 edge in points in the paint, including several layups. They even hit a respectable 4 of 11 three-pointers (36.4%).
But things unraveled in the second half as Northwestern managed to put up just 18 points. The Wildcats hit just 6 of 22 shots from the floor (27.3%) and 3-12 on triples (25%). They repeatedly took bad shots early in the shot clock and wound up with six of their 10 turnovers.
Northwestern’s failure to connect on long-distance shots has been a major reason in its current six-game slide. The Wildcats shot 30% on threes on Wednesday night, the fifth straight they hit 30% or less from beyond the arc.
Beran is struggling: Buie just came out of a four-game scoring slump. Now it seems to be Robbie Beran’s turn to battle an offensive dry spell.
The sophomore forward scored just two points against the Badgers, on one-of-seven shooting. His only make was a dunk. He also failed to hit a single one of his five shots from beyond the arc – which is supposed to be his strength. He has now hit just three of his last 17 shots and scored six points over the last three games.
What’s worse is that Beran’s confidence appears to be shattered. After he passed up a wide-open look at a three-pointer for an ill-advised drive to the hoop that resulted in an errant pass and a turnover, coach Chris Collins lit into him on the ensuing timeout.
“I can’t play you if you don’t that shot. You were wide open,” Collins appeared to say.
The schedule lets up a little moving forward: The Wildcats’ matchup with Wisconsin was their school-record seventh straight against a ranked opponent. The previous record was just four. What’s more, their last two games were against Top 10 teams Iowa and Wisconsin.
That’s why the Wildcats have the best strength of schedule in the nation, according to KenPom.com. Eight of their nine Big Ten games so far have come against teams ranked in the Top 25.
Looking ahead, however, the Wildcats will catch a bit of a breather, with five of their next six games against unranked teams. Their next two games are against unranked Penn State (0-5 in Big Ten play) and Rutgers (3-5). Those games will be must-wins for a team looking to end a protracted losing streak and find its mojo again. Then, after a matchup with No. 7 Michigan, the Wildcats will play three straight against unranked Purdue, Indiana and Rutgers (again).
If the Wildcats can stack some wins they could be able to get back to the .500 mark and make the end of the season interesting.
