EVANSTON, Illinois — For the third time in the last five games, Northwestern was abandoned by its offense in the second half. Despite trading blows with a quality Rutgers (7-4, 3-3 Big Ten) team for over three quarters, No. 21 NU (11-4, 9-4) melted in the fourth quarter as it simply couldn’t string together buckets, falling 70-54.
Lindsey Pulliam and Veronica Burton, NU’s unquestioned top two offensive weapons, combined for just 15 points on 4-of-23 shooting. That’s not going to cut it, especially against a defense that allows just under 57 points per game and has the 17th-best rating in the country, per HerHoop Stats.