At the same time Vanderbilt was playing Arkansas on Saturday, Northwestern was playing Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament, and it probably wasn’t a coincidence that both Vanderbilt and Northwestern were shooting poorly and getting drilled as a result.
Why? Like Vanderbilt, Northwestern was playing an early afternoon game the day after a night game, and also like Vanderbilt, Northwestern was playing its third game in as many days.
And also like Vanderbilt, Northwestern was playing a team that was only on its second game of the tournament. Had Arkansas lost to Ole Miss on Friday night, Vanderbilt still would have been running out of gas, but they’d have been playing a similarly situated team.