The one thing Chris Collins and co. could hang their hats on through the struggles of the past two years was stout defense. Northwestern finished 30th in points per game allowed in 2018-19 and 38th the year before that. This year, though, with assistant and defensive guru Billy Donlon leaving to coach UMKC, questions about that side of the ball came up again.
Then Friday night happened. The ‘Cats were picked apart by a roster of Division 2 athletes, surrendering 71 points to the Warriors, four points greater than the average they gave up to Big Ten opponents alone last year.