If the wheels can still come off a 2-9 Big Ten season, it happened tonight in Champaign for Northwestern.
At the end of the first half, the 'Cats trailed 47-19. You read that correctly. The 'Cats were bullied in every sense of the word on both sides of the ball in the opening 20 minutes.
The Illini shot the lights out of the ball, making 11 threes in the first half, but a lot of them were wide open looks. Northwestern seemed out of sorts on the defensive end from the tip, and lackluster defense was never going to cut it against the No. 5 team in the nation.
On the night, Tre Singleton led the way for the Wildcats with eight points and four rebounds. Nobody finished in double figures, and nobody else was particularly notable.
For the Illini, five players finished in double figures with Andrej Stojakovic leading the charge at 17 points.
Northwestern didn't really do anything well in this one. On the glass, Illinois finished with a 50-23. advantage. From the field, the 'Cats shot it at a 29% clip to the Fighting Illini's 48%. Illinois also made 17 three-pointers in the game. It just wasn't close.
Heading into the first tv-timeout of the evening, Northwestern trailed just 8-7. After that, it was all Illinois. In the middle of the opening frame, it went on a 17-2 run to take firm control of the game. As the buzzer sounded to send the game to break, Wagler drilled a three-quarter court shot. It was that kind of night.
The lone positive early was Singleton, who finished the first half with eight points on 3-of-5 shooting. True to form this year, he missed a three, but he was able to convert in the post, making two impressive lay-ups on the break.
Singleton has been scoring more in recent games, more consistently reaching double figures. His development is a big story this season, and this game wasn't a step back for him personally. I suppose Chris Collins and the 'Cats will take it.
Martinelli, on the other hand, was totally neutralized in the first half. In the second, he got himself going a little more, but defenses are really starting to collapse on him in the pain. The Wildcats are simply not a threat from beyond the arc, and it's hurting Martinelli as this season goes on.
In the second half, it was more of the same. Northwestern couldn't make shots, and it needed to make quite a few. The result? A brutal loss against an in-state rival that had Illini fans chanting "little brother" in the opening half of the game.
The 'Cats will be back in action on the road against Iowa on Sunday, another tough test.