Just three games into the conference slate, Northwestern might as well forget about the NCAA Tournament this year.
After choking away almost all of its meaningful non-conference opportunities, the Wildcats (8-6, 0-3 Big Ten) once again squandered another massive opportunity in an 84-78 loss to Minnesota on Saturday.
Leading by seven points late in the second half, NU allowed the Golden Gophers (9-5, 2-1 Big Ten) to outscore them 24-9 in the final 4:39 of the contest.
“Our problem is when it matters most, we’re not at our best, and that’s if we want to win this league, that’s what we have to clean up,” coach Chris Collins said.
The game against the Golden Gophers was supposed to be a reasonably straightforward win for the ’Cats against a team that entered the tilt ranked No. 100 in KenPom compared to NU at No. 55. Instead, it ended up being a hard-fought loss, a type of contest the ’Cats have gotten all too familiar with.
To date, NU has lost five games by six or fewer points and are 0-3 in conference play, including a tight home loss to Ohio State in early December. The team has shown little ability to close out formidable opponents like Oklahoma State, Virginia and Butler, as six of its eight nonconference wins are currently quad-four teams.
Really, the ’Cats’ only notable win is over now-KenPom No. 89 South Carolina, which it beat by only two points.
NU’s most significant flaws, defense and rebounding, persisted Saturday as they were outrebounded by 13 and allowed 84 points.
“If we want to win games in this league, we’re going to have to get a whole lot tougher, mentally and physically, to put 40 minutes together,” Collins said.
It would take a lot for this ’Cats team to turn their season around because the road only gets harder from here. They are slated to play nine contests against ranked teams in their remaining conference games, and will likely have to jump off the paper if they want to make the NCAA Tournament.
Of the eight Big Ten teams to make the March Madness field last season, the team with the worst conference record was Oregon, which went 12-8. It is possible to get in with a worse finish, but NU’s 0-3 start has put them in a seismic hole.
The ’Cats could also save face with a deep run in the Big Ten Tournament if they’re able to perform well enough to stay afloat by then. But, as of now, they’ve shown little indication of being able even to put themselves in that position.
“I told our guys in there, there’s no quitting me, there’s no quit in our staff (and) there’s no quit in our players,” Collins said. ”If there’s another game to play, you get up, you dust yourself off, you roll your sleeves up, you keep fighting and you try to turn things around.”
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