Women’s Basketball

Northwestern’s lone meeting with in-state rival Illinois wasn’t expected to be a battle for the Big Ten cellar going into the year. The Wildcats were picked to finish third in the conference by Big Ten media before the season started.

Instead, the teams will battle with last place on the line as the conference-worst Fighting Illini (8-13, 1-9 Big Ten) host 12th-place NU (13-9, 2-8) Thursday in Champaign. The Cats have lost their last five games, and Illinois has fallen in four straight.

Despite NU’s recent slide and its likelihood of returning to the NCAA tournament diminishing with every loss, the Cats aren’t looking too far into the future.

“My goal first off is to beat Illinois,” junior guard Christen Inman said. “We’re just looking at it one game at a time, not really focusing on ‘we have to win these games,’ just taking it one game at a time.”

Last season, NU went undefeated in February after entering the month just 4-5 in Big Ten play, a fact coach Joe McKeown has mentioned more than once during the Cats’ five game slide. But to truly have a successful February, NU will need to figure out how to win on the road.

The Cats are just 2-5 in road games and have not won away from home since Dec. 13 against Loyola. Additionally, NU is 0-5 in Big Ten road games this season.

“In all honesty, we haven’t really looked at it that way,” McKeown said of having not won on the road in so long. “I haven’t noticed us being uncomfortable on the road. … This team, I think, we’ve handled the road pretty well.”

Location aside, the Cats have struggled mightily defending in the fourth quarter during their recent slide. In its last four games, NU has allowed an average of 26.3 points in the final period, and its last three opponents have scored more points in the fourth than any other quarter.

Recent fourth quarter scores, however, may be most telling. In Sunday’s loss to Iowa, the Hawkeyes outscored the Cats 25-14 in the fourth. Then-No. 7 Ohio State outscored NU 26-19 in the final period last week, and in its outing before that, NU was beaten 33-19 in the last ten minutes against Indiana.

“We’ve talked a lot about consistent effort, and that starts in practice,” senior guard Maggie Lyon said. “It all stems off what our efforts are in practice, having that consistent effort across the board.”

With an RPI of 80, NU will certainly need more than just a win against the worst team in the Big Ten to return to the NCAA Tournament. Sunday’s game against Minnesota (14-7, 6-4), a team that beat the Cats just over two weeks ago, could also be critical for NU.

Both McKeown and players have said frequently that the Cats are playing well, but simply aren’t winning games. NU has lost four conference games by seven points or fewer and nearly completed a season sweep of the Buckeyes in last week’s match.

However, the Cats enter Thursday trailing 11 teams in the Big Ten. McKeown said he realizes that despite stretches of good play, NU sits near the bottom of the conference, a place it doesn’t want to be.

“When you have standings and there’s a lot at stake, coming off the year we had last year … it’s frustrating,” McKeown said.

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Twitter: @ckpaxton