As the clock hit zero on a frigid Wednesday night, a far-from-capacity crowd at Welsh-Ryan Arena exhaled a sigh of relief. But none was bigger than that of Chris Collins. His team had narrowly escaped an inspired upset bid from the lowly Chicago State Cougars, a team that went 4-28 last season and was rated among the worst of all 351 teams in NCAA Division I basketball.
Collins’ team heads into the State Farm Chicago Legends looking like a newborn deer finding its feet first time: nothing short of shaky after Wednesday night. That doesn’t change the significance of Northwestern’s non-conference slate.