Heading into tipoff last night, Welsh-Ryan Arena gave off the energy — and tension — that a must-have game presented in front of Northwestern. To some extent, it was. A loss to a Michigan team with a NET ranking well past 70, at home, would put a damper on the tournament dreams that have lingered around Evanston since December.
While Chris Collins’ team was playing its fifth game in 11 days against a Wolverine squad with three days of rest, the quick turnarounds haven’t appeared to severely affect the ‘Cats throughout the past two weeks. But there was always a possibility that NU would hit a wall during this stretch.