Northwestern’s remaining hopes of reaching the NCAA Tournament were thoroughly quashed, as the Wildcats were dominated down the stretch by Michigan State and dropped out of the Big Ten Tournament, 68-52.
Northwestern (16-14, 9-9 B1G) couldn’t overcome dual 1-of-13 performances from Lindsey Pulliam and a returning Jordan Hamilton, and Michigan State (20-10, 9-9) had four players score in double figures en route to a comfortable 16-point win.
The Spartans started strong. Despite three Abi Scheid triples, Michigan State led 24-19 at the end of the first quarter thanks to impressive transition offense and post passing.
They continued to take advantage of Northwestern coach Joe McKeown’s blizzard defense in the second quarter, though a quick nine points from Abbie Wolf kept the Wildcats within striking distance.