Not all close games are good games. And Northwestern and Illinois certainly supported that narrative Saturday night when the Wildcats overcame a sluggish start to clip in-rival Illinois 58-56 at Welsh Ryan Arena.
Overall - B+
The Wildcats played really poorly in the first half on both sides of the ball. Defensively they were slow on rotations in the halfcourt and slow in picking up open shooters in transition. Offensively they turned the ball over 10 times and shot 2 of 11 from three. Still, Northwestern found itself down just 23-21 at halftime, in large part because Illinois shot just 29 percent from the field.