For the first time since 1931, Northwestern has won 11 conference games.
In November 2022, college basketball pundits picked the Northwestern Wildcats to finish either 13th or 14th in the Big Ten. This is unsurprising, given that for the last six seasons, the Wildcats (20-7, 11-5 Big Ten) have been anything but competitive and have failed to reach the NCAA Tournament since its Cinderella 2016-2017 campaign.
The date is February 20, 2023, and Chicago’s Big Ten team is anything but a joke or a laughingstock. No, not even close. Northwestern keeps turning non-believers into believers night in and night out.
Just ask Boo Buie and Ty Berry. The duo is a dream if you’re an NU fan and public enemy No. 1 and No. 2 if you aren’t. Nonetheless, the pair has helped propel the Wildcats to their best week in recent memory and, arguably, program history.
Sunday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena, an 80-60 drubbing against the Iowa Hawkeyes (17-10, 9-7 Big Ten) showed just how far the Wildcats have come from the so-called “expert predictions” made ahead of the season. With less than two weeks in the regular season, the Cardiac ‘Cats control their destiny in a crowded conference title race.
“We just want [people] to know that we’re serious [about winning],” Buie said after the game. “Like, this isn’t a joke. We’re just gonna keep playing hard. We’re not really thinking about the attention [from the national media]. You know, we remember what everybody was saying before the attention and stuff. That’s what we’re focused on, and we’re gonna continue our grind. We always say in the locker room, ‘We’re all on a different mission.’”
That mission has turned into a rocket ship with no signs of returning to Earth, at least for the moment.
Northwestern controlled the game from the opening tip as the Hawkeyes struggled to find a rhythm offensively. While Iowa started 0-of-7 from three-point range, the Wildcats went into attack mode and never let up. Although Chase Audige got into foul trouble early in the first half, Buie and Berry responded in a big way, as did Brooks Barnhizer.
To the chagrin of Chris Collins, the trio combined for 51 of Northwestern’s 80 points, as it never trailed at any point during the game. This included an 11-point cushion at halftime, 37-26, even though the Hawkeyes’ shooting woes made the contest feel more lopsided than the score indicated. Kris Murray, the brother of ex-Iowa star Keegan Murray, had a forgettable performance, only posting 14 points.
Unfortunately for Iowa, its head coach, Fran McCaffery, was ejected from the contest. When asked to comment after the game, he said he could not.
While Collins appreciates praises from other coaches around the Big Ten about his potential Big Ten Coach of the Year candidacy, he credits his team for its on-court efforts, triumphs, and tribulations.
“Well, the one thing that I love about this conference is we’ve got a lot of old-school coaches in this conference,” Collins said. “Guys that are competitive as heck and wanna win. You see it in my face, you see it in Frany and a lot of these coaches. Everybody’s fighting and trying to win. But the thing I’ve really enjoyed about this current group of coaches is the respect [they have for each other] across the board. I think we have as good of coaches in our league as anywhere in the country. Guys who respect the game’s history and what the game means and try to grow the game the best they can….to hear [Fran McCaffery] have respect, it means a lot.”
The in-state rivalry is next up for Northwestern
The Wildcats, now ranked No. 21 in the latest AP Poll, will look to hand Illinois (17-9, 8-7 Big Ten) its third-straight loss when they travel to Champaign on Thursday for the long-awaited rematch at State Farm Center. NU won the first matchup in Evanston by double-digits, 73-60, in a one-sided affair.
Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.
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