After losing to Michigan State on January 30, Northwestern stood at 3-6 in the Big Ten, but with a considerable amount of hope, thanks to a favorable schedule. Sure enough, the Wildcats got to 5-6 in the conference after convincing home wins over Michigan and Indiana.
Northwestern Loses To Iowa, Looks Set To Miss The Tourney Yet Again
↵Northwestern looked set to get to .500 and back into serious Tournament contention with a game at Iowa on Wednesday night.
↵Unfortunately for Wildcat fans, NU last won in Iowa City in 2004, a trend that continued tonight, as they dropped their fifth straight game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, 78-65.
↵That leaves Northwestern at 5-7 in the BIg Ten with six league games left. The only one that’s probably a guaranteed loss is the game at Madison on February 21. Otherwise, he Wildcats face Penn State twice, Iowa again, Minnesota at home and Indiana on the road. meaning a 9-9 or 10-6 mark is possible.
↵However. thanks to the unbalanced Big Ten schedule, the Wildcats play all three league weaklings twice, but face contenders Purdue and Ohio State only once each. That could hurt their strength of schedule, especially if another major conference bubble team battling with Northwestern for one of the last bids grabbed more wins against their league’s big boys than the “Cats did.
↵Barring a win in Madison or a miracle run through the Big Ten tourney, it’s looking like another NIT season in Evanston.
↵Read more at our Northwestern blog, Sippin On Purple, and our Iowa blog, Black Heart Gold Pants.
See More:
