Northwestern’s second-half collapse raises questions on how it moves forward

EVANSTON, Illinois — At some point, the excuses have to stop.

Heading into the halftime intermission Thursday night against No. 12 Illinois, Northwestern was riding a comfortable 15-point lead. The Wildcats shot an impressive 52% from the field and scored 43 points in the first 20 minutes. At that point, they had a 90.3% chance of victory and appeared to have fixed their persisting issues against talented Big Ten opponents like Iowa and Michigan. They looked good.

However, the matchup took a stark turn for the worse, as Illinois outscored Northwestern 53-13 in the second half and took an 81-56 win back to Champaign. In just 20 minutes, U of I issued a massive 40-point swing that not only…