With students back on campus, Wildcat sports are kicking back into high gear. Brendan Preisman has the sports report.
Photo by Northwestern Athletics / nusports.com
Hi, I’m Brendan Preisman. Here’s your NU Sports report for this week.
BASKETBALL
Northwestern men’s basketball began the year with back-to-back Big Ten games. In a roller-coaster conference, they put up some roller-coaster results. The Wildcats lost to 9th-ranked Illinois by 30 on January 2nd, their first double digit loss of the season. The team shot just 41% from the field, while letting Illinois shoot over 60%. Boo Buie led the way with 20 points, but tallied zero assists.
That number would shift quite a bit in the Wildcats’ next contest, an 88-74 win over Michigan State. Buie scored 19 points, but also added 10 assists, a career high. Buie also didn’t turn the ball over, becoming just the fifth player in the NCAA this year to tally 10 assists or more without a giveaway. The 88-point output was the most points Northwestern scored against the Spartans since 1976. The team is looking to build on that momentum tonight on their road trip to Penn State.
Unfortunately, the women’s side has not been as lucky in the new year. Since 2024 began, the Wildcats have suffered two losses by a combined 70 points. In both games, the team failed to score more than 60 points. Both contests also saw Northwestern’s opponent score 90 points or more. Against Penn State, Northwestern committed a season-high 30 turnovers and shot under 38% from the field. The Nittany Lions turned those 30 turnovers into 42 points, and also scored 44 points in the paint.
Against Ohio State, the Wildcats improved slightly, but not much. This time out, the team committed “only” 28 turnovers, and the Buckeyes scored 37 points off those. The killer in this game was Ohio State’s offense: they scored 23 fast break points and 20 or more points in every quarter. The lone bright spot for the team over the past week or so has been Cailiegh Walsh, who totaled 30 points in the two games. The Wildcats will be back in action this evening in Madison, Wisconsin.
FENCING
The Wildcats competed at the January NAC in San Jose, California over the weekend. Megumi Oishi finished 5th in the junior women’s saber, the only Wildcat in the top 35. Oishi also finished in 10th place in the Division 1 women’s saber, with the performance earning her an A rating. Rowan Park and Karen Wang also finished in the top 35 in their brackets for division 1 women’s foil and junior women’s epee. The NAC comes after over a month off over winter break, but there won’t be much time to shake off the rust. The Wildcats will travel to Medford, Massachusetts for the Tufts invitational this sunday. Following that, they’ll travel to Philadelphia for the Philadelphia invitational on January 21.
That concludes your NU Sports report for this week. For more information about upcoming games, as well as how you can watch the Wildcats live, visit www.nusports.com.
I’m Brendan Preisman, WNUR News.
