Men’s Basketball

Sidelined for four weeks earlier this season with a foot injury and hampered for another five weeks with a slow recovery process, senior center Alex Olah is at last completely healthy again.

Olah led the Wildcats (17-11, 5-10 Big Ten) with 19 points on a 7-for-11 shooting performance from inside the arc, and five rebounds in Wednesday’s 72-63 loss at Michigan. Now entering the final week of the regular season — which begins Saturday against Rutgers — the 7-foot center said he feels poised to end his collegiate career unrestricted by health concerns.

“It’s been a tough road. I thought I was at 100 percent … about three or four weeks (ago), but that was obviously not the case,” said Olah, who got out of his walking boot earlier this week. “(But) I’m 100 percent now. Being able to practice pretty much every day will really help … getting back in the form where I was before the injury.”

Olah’s fellow senior, Tre Demps, has also found his form just in time for the stretch run.

Demps has scored 14 or more points in six consecutive games, the longest such streak of his career, and he’s currently one game shy of matching the longest double-digit scoring streak of his career.

After a mid-winter slump cast into question his shooting habits, Demps has re-established his status as one of the best scorers on the team and is hoping to translate that into a special accomplishment for the team entering March.

“I still feel like we’re playing for a lot,” Demps said. “We have an opportunity to win over 20 games, which is something that’s never been done in the history of this program.”

In order to get there, NU will likely need to win its last three regular-season games against three opponents with losing records in the conference — Rutgers, Penn State and Nebraska — to set them up with 20 wins entering the Big Ten Tournament.

The Cats’ quest begins with a Saturday afternoon home contest against the Scarlet Knights (6-22, 0-15), who have lost 30 straight Big Ten games dating back to last year and sport the eighth-worst average scoring margin out of all 346 Division I colleges this season, as of Friday.

On Tuesday against Minnesota — the team with the second-worst record in the conference — Rutgers disintegrated in the second half en route a decisive 83-61 defeat. Following the embarrassing loss, coach Eddie Jordan, maligned by a squad that some are now calling one of the worst major-conference teams of all time, told the press in Minneapolis his focus has partially shifted to how his players are doing academically.

Meanwhile, NU coach Chris Collins said given the late stage of the season, overlooking Rutgers would be imprudent and inexplicable.

“It’s a sprint now. There’s got to be a sense of urgency; it doesn’t matter who we’re playing,” Collins said, adding that winning out would likely get the team to No. 9 in the standings. “We have real problems if we’re not going to be motivated to play this game.”

Collins’ team will try to ride the backs of the two seniors, both simultaneously playing at top form at last, toward that rapidly approaching finish line.

Olah, for one, said he’s more than ready to carry the weight.

“My legs are back, my body feels great and I’m ready to finish this season,” Olah said.

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Twitter: @benpope111