Looking to bounce back from a loss to Ohio State, Northwestern will need to perform well on the defensive end against Illinois.
To say Northwestern has had trouble stopping Big Ten opponents' primary scorers this season would be an understatement. The Wildcats have been prone to scoring outbursts by other teams' top players throughout conference play — note the 15+ point performances from Ohio State's JaQuan Lyle, Iowa's Jarrod Uthoff and Peter Jok, Michigan State's Denzel Valentine, etc — you get the point.
That doesn't bode well for Chris Collins's team (16-9 overall, 4-8 Big Ten) on Friday against in-state rival Illinois (11-13, 3-8).