ROSEMONT, IL — Three months from now, Friday night hopefully won't be more than a footnote for Northwestern.
On the surface, what was supposed to happen happened. The Wildcats beat Loyola (Md.), and their four stars combined for 70 points.
It was anything but easy.
The unexpectedly thin margin in Northwestern's nervy 79-75 win was a function of early-season jitters, playing in a unfamiliar environment, adjusting to a new year and a rotation thrown off by injury and foul trouble.
But Northwestern's uninspired second half performance was more than that. Bryant McIntosh said it himself.