EVANSTON, Illinois — If the first two games of Northwestern’s season felt different from 2019-20, Wednesday night was a reminder the Wildcats haven’t quite put to bed last year’s struggles. NU (2-1) let an 11-point halftime lead slip away and Pittsburgh’s Justin Champagnie scored the go-ahead dunk with 5.6 seconds left to give the Panthers (3-1) a 71-70 win.
Three Wildcats scored in double digits on a night in which NU shot just 36.8 percent from the field as a team. Boo Buie paced the ‘Cats with 14 points despite hitting only two of his nine shots.
Xavier Johnson (21 points), Au’Diese Toney (18 points) and Champagnie (20 points) did the heavy lifting for their squad, combining for 59 of the Panthers’ 71 points.