Here are our takeaways from a tough loss for Northwestern at Minnesota.

the missed FT's in the 2nd half (and OT for that matter) have to be at the top of the list. We overcame 18 TO's to win at Penn State and were in line to do it today but some key misses down the stretch by Buie and Barnhizer really hurt. We led for almost the entirety of that game but still lost. Credit Buie for making the last two at regulation for sure, but some makes earlier in the last 4 minute stretch would've given us a bit more distance and helped with applying some extra scoreboard pressure. Barnhizer's miss inside the last minute of regulation to leave us up only 2 instead of 3 really, really hurt. Sure enough, Minny hits a 3 to take the lead. Hit your FT's and we win that game. Crazy that MN hit BOTH his FT's and we still ended up just 13-20.

I do not have confidence when either Barnhizer or Langborg go to the line. Both shoot very flat FT's that make it hard to go in unless it's a clean make. Buie is generally very solid with FT's down the stretch and actually Ty Berry is now automatic (which a good shooter should be). Berry didn't get to the line at all though so it was up to the others to shoot them and they didn't deliver.

It would be easy to be deflated after that PU game, but the MN game is just as important. It's hard to win on the road. They need those 12 wins

The barn is a great place to watch a game. The team was out of sync. Too many turnovers and Minnesota had a big that knows how to play.

There will be three more PWO visitors on campus this weekend, WildcatReport has learned. These are visitors in addition to grad transfer DT Hank Knez we reported in another thread.

Here's a look at the visitors:


2024 OL Jake Borcherding

We know all about Borcherding, the Iowa offensive lineman @mshelton33 wrote about last week. He will take his first visit to Northwestern since receiving his PWO offer from NU on Jan. 21.

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2024 DE Jack Trautmann

Trautmann is a 6-foot-3, 250-pounder from West suburban Elmhurst (Ill.) York. He had 41 tackles, 12 sacks and 20 TFL this season as the Dukes made a run to the Class 8A semifinals. He has picked up offers from some smaller programs like FCS Bucknell, Dayton and San Diego, and DII Truman State, as well as a PWO offer from Miami (Ohio).

He doesn't have a PWO offer from Northwestern as of yet but may pick one up today.

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2025 P Nikola Dugandzic

Dugandzic is from nearby New Trier, just a few miles north of Evanston. He's a massive punter, 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds, and reports a 41.9-yard average on 41 punts, with 17 inside the 20. He also kicked 31 of 32 kickoffs for touchbacks.

This is a kid who could eventually earn a scholarship offer. We'll see.

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Can kiss my ass.

NFM

With the final FT disparity in yesterday’s game ending up 46-8, there has been a lot posted on this subject already. I think most of the emphasis has been on the 46, and too little on the 8.

First of all there should be a little clarification on how free throws did or did not help Purdue’s offense. Of the 46 free throws, I think you have to not consider the deliberate fouls and technicals at the end of the game. In the last 32 seconds, after taking a 2 score lead, Purdue made 9 of 10 free throws. The 4-4 technicals clearly were irrelevant to the outcome, and the 5-6 on the “we have to fouls” had nothing to do with how the game was called up to that point. Taking that into consideration, Purdue was 20-36 and NU 6-8 with 32 seconds to go in OT.

A really significant point is that the Purdue FT % at that point was 56. Their effective FG percentage was 66. For almost the entire game, Purdue lost points (about 2 total) by shooting free throws instead of field goals. NU, on the other hand, shot 75% from the line versus an effective FG percentage of 67%. They gained a little less than half a point on the possessions where they went to the line.

Purdue really did not gain by going to the line, but the Cats lost points by not going more. While the clear missed call on Berry in OT is the most obvious, just a few calls that would have sent Buie to the line could have changed the outcome. The real mystery is why NU did not get a few more trips either as and ones or on drives to the basket.

The other key point to consider is the effect of Nicholson fouling out. I haven’t gone back and looked at the specific calls on him. It is possible they were all correct. If they weren’t, his absence based on the +/- hurt the Cats.

The long and short of it is that the disparity of fouls whistled in Purdue’s favor is that PU did not go to the line too often and hence beat the Cats, but that NU probably went too little.

This game proves the cats can play with the best teams in the nation, even on the road. Purdue knows the cats can beat them, even in their building. There’s not a lot of teams that could’ve played Purdue that tough on their court, with that crowd. This was a tough game but the loss is ok and should pay dividends in the tournament.

I talked to Justin Kaye, the NJ offensive lineman in the Class of 2024 that got a PWO offer from Northwestern yesterday, about Northwestern and his recruitment.

Nationally ranked long snapper from Lincoln Way East visits NU.
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Northwestern is playing its top players at nearly a conference-leading clip with unparalleled success. I talked to Northwestern basketball's strength coach, Brendon Ziegler, about the steps he's taken to get the Wildcats to this level since he joined the team in 2022.

Let's say you had a purple magic wand to make one controversial referee call (or no-call) go NU's way. Where would you use it?

For the sake of argument, play picks up right after the consequences of the reversed call, so scores, injuries, foul situation, etc. is still intact.

@EdgyTim has the story on Northwestern reaching out to St. Viator 2025 QB Cooper Kmet, ND and Bears TE Cole Kmet's younger brother.

We miss Verhoeven a lot. He struggled initially but he became a very solid rotation player by the middle of the season. Very good defensively and a solid rebounder. Preston is just overmatched at this level. The sequence where he didn’t contest the Smith layup and then stood directly under the basket as Edey dunked on him was one of the worst plays of the year. I struggle watching him.

How did no one catch this?

NU adds EIU to the 2024 schedule.
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Northwestern is playing its top players at nearly a conference-leading clip with unparalleled success. I talked to Northwestern basketball's strength coach, Brendon Ziegler, about the steps he's taken to get the Wildcats to this level since he joined the team in 2022.

Look at the box score & you’ll see an incredibly evenly matched game, with one glaring exception. Sure, PU beat us on the boards, but they also shot 46(!) free throws to our 8(!). A few very questionable calls (fouls and non-fouls) along the way, including some key ones in crunch time. Proud of the NU effort in spite of the outcome. Actually happy to see Collins let that official have it. Warranted. Purdue fans probably still think the refs were out to get them.

6-4 in the league after those first 10 is an achievement. Beat Minnesota & the rest of them, boys. Cats have their destiny in their own hands.

Here’s what Edgy Tim thinks Northwestern is getting from new DE commit Caden O’Rourke.

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Really looking forward to watching how Lujan incorporates the TE position into his offense. Sign me up for guys making plays like Zach Heins. That room in Evanston has a lot of potential.

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Nebraska has a similar record to Northwestern, a head-to-head win, and now wins over Purdue and Wisconsin. We've got them next week and they're riding high. Let's make sure to defend our homecourt.

Also, after last night's foul-fest, I was shocked to see they were only called for two fouls in the first 19 minutes of the second half. These are Big 10 refs, right?

Purloined means stolen.


Had Nicholson been allowed to play longer, NU wins this game. The way we were shooting, we maybe win by 6-10. But the refs did what they love to do and intervened.

The referees called an obvious offensive foul on Gillis for physically plowing Ty Berry down the lane, but Edey does that repeatedly and the zebras allow it - or call fouls on the defender.
There is a different set of rules for Edey.
Meanwhile, Nicholson picked up a foul for standing next to Edey with his hand on Edeys hip. He got another foul for standing still and another foul for jumping.
Oh well, can't do anything about it. Its just tough to watch when the refs are putting your team at a disadvantage,

The starters (Nicholson/Barnhizer/Buie/Berry/Langborg) hammered the Boilers 18-9 in 7 minutes of play. Scored easily, didn't allow much.
No reason to think that wouldn't happen again.
With Hunger at center with the same 4 starters, we played to an 18-18 draw over 8 1/2 minutes.
However, when Preston was at center with the same 4, we lost 22-14 in 6 1/2 minutes.

Ty Berry poured in 25 points on only 14 shots. A couple were a bit forced, but he played a great game. Buie was only slightly less effective.
Jordan Clayton played 1 minute and we were beaten 5-0. With all the fouls being called on NU, Collins was forced to sub constantly.
33 or so substitutions for this game, when our normal is 18-25. Eventually he had no one to sub.

The "golden lineup" (Nicholson/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Berry/Buie) only saw two minutes of action early in the game. They lost 4-3.

Oh, I declared "garbage time" with 2 seconds left to play, just as Chris Collins went onto the court to discuss matters with a referee who witnessed and ignored a crucial offensive foul.
So those 4 free throws are not counted.

While I have seen a few Sundogs before in my life, this morning's reveal was the first time I have ever seen one from my house.

( Not sure if the Alaska Sky Dog has the same power as the Alaska Moose, but the Wildcats did get to overtime in today's Basketball Game against #2 Purdue.)

Today's rare atmospheric phenomenon bringing a Sundog sighting portends-good luck and good fortune which are said to follow from seeing a Sundog in the sky.

This from the Internet:

"Sundogs are relatively rare occurrences, and they can only be seen in certain conditions. They require a high sun angle, cold temperatures, and light cirrus clouds that contain millions of plate-shaped ice crystals."

"Some attribute the word sundog to the Greek, who purportedly believed that the bright lights were the dogs Zeus would walk across the sky. For the Greeks, seeing a sundog was considered to be a sign of good luck, and that sentiment appears to linger in current perception across several cultures."

So hope all enjoy your good luck ahead as you share this morning's sighting by viewing the captured photos.



Note - the Sundog is on the left and the sun is on the far right in the above photo.

Here are views focusing in on the Sundog itself:

Love this interaction with Collins and a student reporter. CCC has come a long and is so damn likable these days. I feel like that ejection last night will be a true coming of age moment for him. He’s getting a ton of favorable national publicity today.

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At the very least we need to match what Stanford is doing in regards to NIL.

Looking forward to the next call with TrueNU. Hoping Jacob has a bit more flexibility as the NIL landscape comes more into focus.

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