After all the fun that was had in Monday night’s historic victory, Northwestern (6-4) faces a tougher test tonight against Valparaiso (8-2) at Allstate Arena.
If you take KenPom as the immaculate truth, a win over the Crusaders would be the Wildcats’ best win of the season. Valparaiso comes in at 86th in KenPom’s rankings, ahead of Illinois, who slots in at 92nd. Impressively enough, Matt Lottich’s squad opened the season 8-0, though their best win is over a 5-6 Utah State team. The month of December hasn’t been as kind to Valparaiso, as the Crusaders were throttled by Purdue in West Lafayette before falling 71-70 to Ball State on a last-second three-pointer to bring their record to 8-2.