Northwestern (16-9, 4-8)
All-time: 132-39 (last: Illinois 86, NW 60 in Champaign, 2/28/15)
Tip off: 7 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network
The term rivalry is accurate for Saturday’s in-state match-up between Illinois and Northwestern, but it is misleading. When you hear rivalry, you imagine a couple of teams who hate each other really slugging it out and beating each other up; you think something like SEC football, Alabama vs. LSU, for instance. At least that’s what comes to my mind. The men’s basketball competition between the Illini and Wildcats, on the other hand, is lacking some of that dramatic flair this year.
Like Illinois, the Wildcats have been hurting this year, only to a lesser extent. Vic Law was lost before the season started and big man Alex Olah is still working his way back from injury, missing 6 games to start Big Ten play with a foot injury, and has rarely been a the double-digit scorer he was before the injury since returning. This has forced coach Chris Collins to go younger than he’d like, with a starting lineup against Ohio State on Tuesday featuring two freshmen and a sophomore. The sophomore, however, is Bryant McIntosh, who has been lights out this year, averaging 14.8 points and 6.6 assists per game. along with Tre Demps (14.7 points), Northwestern has scraped by on guard play.
Guard play, of course, is all Illinois has with so many injuries of its own, so the question for Saturday becomes: Whose guards are better? By record Northwestern has the edge, but their schedule has also been a bit more favorable (wins against Wisconsin and Nebraska being the outliers versus Illinois’s record). The game itself should be tight, as both schools are roughly equivalent, but neither are very good. Still, Illinois-Rutgers was a nail-biting, three-overtime, dramatic masterpiece of lousy basketball, so maybe the same could be in store for this game.
Likely starting lineups
Illinois: Jaylon Tate, guard; Kendrick Nunn, guard; Malcolm Hill, guard; DJ Williams, guard/forward; Maverick Morgan, center
Northwestern: Bryant McIntosh, guard; Tre Demps, guard; Aaron Falzon, forward; Sanjay Lumpkin, forward; Dererk Pardon, center
Gut feeling
The Chicago guys came to life in the win at Welsh-Ryan last year, so I’ve got a sneaking suspicion they’ll do well again this year. Plus, I really like the way DJ Williams is trending right now, so I’d hope he would have a good game in his hometown, too. Something’s gotta give in this contest of bruised Big Ten basement dwellers, and I think it will be Northwestern.