Northwestern men’s basketball is off to a promising start to the season, but it’ll face its biggest challenge yet at Hinkle Fieldhouse, taking on the Butler Bulldogs. How Northwestern fares in this game could foretell the team’s performance for the remainder of the year.
The Wildcats’ non-conference schedule features few tough opponents, Butler among them. Chris Collins’s team faces just five teams (Butler, Texas, Notre Dame/Colorado, Wake Forest and Dayton) in Kenpom’s top 100. In order for Northwestern to even sniff the NIT, the team will need to take care of business, and then some. That means beating every team they’re supposed to beat and pulling out a couple impressive wins over the aforementioned teams.