Men’s Basketball

Northwestern has a tough challenge ahead of them on Thursday.

The Wildcats have lost 11 straight games. They’re about to face an Illinois team on the upswing after the return of Ayo Dosunmu in a nearly sold-out contest at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

NU (6-20, 1-15 Big Ten) will play their penultimate game at home this season against their in-state rival, the Fighting Illini (18-9, 10-6 Big Ten). The Cats have been blown out in their last four games after a series of close letdowns early in the losing streak.

“We’ve got a couple days to have a couple hard practices,” said coach Chris Collins after Sunday’s loss to Minnesota. “That’s what’s going to take. We’re playing an outstanding team on Thursday, and we’ve got to be better on the defensive end, we’ve got to rebound it better. And I feel like the offense will take care of itself.”

NU is one of the weakest teams in the Big Ten defensively, allowing 69.8 points per game. Illinois, led by Dosunmu and breakout center Kofi Cockburn, is top five in the conference in scoring, with 72.5 points per game. In order for the Cats to compete with the Fighting Illini, their defense will need to be in top form.

Freshman center Ryan Young has done his best to hold his own against the conference’s top centers. He has another challenge ahead of him with Cockburn, a strong rebounder — especially on the offensive end — and he’s among the top 15 scorers in the conference.

After NU’s last loss to Illinois on Jan. 18, the team seemed poised for a breakthrough that would allow them to be competitive in the Big Ten. The Cats haven’t won a single game since that contest. Collins has said throughout the season that he thinks they’re almost there, but results since then have grown worse, and Collins has shifted to discussing next season.

“You’re looking at teams this year, like Illinois, Rutgers, Penn State,” Collins said. “Teams that have had to go through it as young teams and now they’re emerging as league contenders because they’ve gone through it, and they’ve been stronger from it. And they’ve gotten better. You’re only going to get better if you learn from it. You can’t let it kill you.”

NU has one of its last opportunities to win a game this season against Illinois. If the Cats can put together a game like they did on Jan. 18, with good three point shooting and strong performances from players like sophomore forward Miller Kopp and graduate guard Pat Spencer, they might be able to shock the country.

“The thing that really keeps me going is that they really want to win,” Collins said. “You know, they’re taking these losses hard. They really want to win, they want to be a good team. They want to figure it out, and sometimes it just takes getting that one.”

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