Illinois vs. Northwestern
7 pm
TV: Big Ten Network
Illinois is on a winning streak! A road game winning streak, that is. After beating Northwestern in Evanston and then picking up a win in Iowa City on Saturday, the Illini leapfrogged Ohio State and pulled even with Indiana at 12th in the Big Ten — just as everyone expected back in November.
Adding to the weirdness of this season, the Illini game notes for this evening’s game highlights the contributions of freshmen and sophomores, specifically noting “UI underclassmen accounting for an average of 113.3 minutes played over the last four games.” On a team with two sixth-year seniors and three regular old seniors…alright then.
As for the Wildcats, well it was pretty shocking when Illinois beat them on Feb. 7. Northwestern is looking more and more like a lock for its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance and has bona fide studs on its roster, which makes the Illinois loss a bad loss for the Cats. How does that affect this evening’s game? It means Bryant McIntosh and Vic Law go supernova for revenge, or Illinois finds a way to gut out another one. Honestly, I’d lean toward the former, especially with Scottie Lindsey back in the lineup for NU. But, I thought Illinois had no chance two weeks ago, so here we are.
My prediction: Josh Whitman continues to try and secure alumni support for a new coach while schmoozing in the VIP area.