Northwestern coach Randy Walker, 50, stayed overnight at Evanston Hospital, after checking himself in shortly before his weekly news conference at noon on Monday.
A team spokesman said Walker was watching Monday Night Football from his bed and seemed to be in good spirits. Terms of his condition were not disclosed, but more should be known later today.
With Walker feeling sick, offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar and defensive coordinator Greg Colby answered questions about the Wildcats’ 24-12 letdown against the Badgers.
Dunbar said NU’s offensive woes against Wisconsin were due in part to a shoulder injury quarterback Brett Basanez sustained at the start of the Big Ten season.
“I think it’s a lack of practice time,” Dunbar said. “His injuries limited his practice time. He doesn’t practice every day. We continue to work through those things, and that makes it extremely difficult sometimes in the passing game to have the precision and timing that you’d like to have if he was 100 percent.”
Dunbar said he was concerned about NU’s timing and hesitation on offense in the first half, a problem that enabled the Badgers to take a 17-0 halftime lead.
Basanez converted 5 of 18 passes for 34 yards and one interception in the first half. He finished 16 of 37 for 185 yards and one touchdown.
Although the Cats’ receivers dropped several balls in their worst performance of the season, Dunbar mentioned Basanez’s injury, which he suffered against Minnesota on Sept. 25 and doctors said would take four to six weeks to heal.
“He’s regaining his strength,” Dunbar said. “He’s regaining all the things that he needs.
“But it needs rehab and it needs time and it needs rest, and sometimes those things affect the timing of the passing game.”
Basanez said he feels “great” and intends to participate in all of this week’s practices.
“We just couldn’t get in sync,” Basanez said. “I don’t know what it was. I’m sure we could think of a million excuses, but we just can’t let it happen again.”
Defensive coordinator Colby also talked about his squad’s injuries, mainly those to the secondary.
“I don’t know that we’ve got a healthy guy back there right now,” Colby said. “(Senior safety) Dominique Price might be the only one that currently doesn’t have something going on. So that’s been a concern, and we haven’t played as well back there as we need to.”
Junior cornerback Jeff Backes, who saw limited playing time against the Badgers after suffering an ankle injury against Ohio State, is expected to play more against Purdue.
And junior cornerback Marquice Cole, who has sat out all seven games this season with a fractured right ankle, is likely to use a medical redshirt this year.
“You don’t want to put him in and waste a whole year for three or four games, although we could certainly use his speed back there,” Colby said.
Despite the injuries, junior linebacker Tim McGarigle stood out on defense and is the nation’s leader in solo tackles after grabbing 10 against Wisconsin.
But Colby said the rest of the defense needs to be more aggressive tackling.
He also said NU defenders must avoid building poor momentum, like they did in the second quarter of Saturday’s game when the Badgers gained 137 yards and scored two touchdowns.
“I like the way our kids play,” Colby said. “I think one of the things we need to do a better job of defensively out there is not let the flow of the game affect how we play. And I think that’s one thing that has happened to us a couple of times in the past.”
Reach Teddy Kider at [email protected].
