Game Preview: No. 23 Ohio State readies for road meeting with Northwestern

Ohio State took care of one member of the Big Ten’s elite on Wednesday, but on Saturday, the Buckeyes set sights on one of the conference’s dark horse surprises this season.

Northwestern (5-1, 2-0 Big Ten) has yet to earn a spot in the AP Top 25, but it’s beginning to receive consideration after knocking off then-No. 4 Michigan State by double digits on Sunday. The Wildcats play host to No. 23 Ohio State (7-1, 1-1 Big Ten), which is fresh off its best win of the season against No. 11 Rutgers, an upset that required a 16-point comeback.

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Entering Northwestern’s eighth year with Chris Collins at the helm, the program has found dwindling success since its last NCAA Tournament appearance to end the 2016-17 season. However, Collins is leading a group that looks poised to make a dramatic turnaround from a year ago, as the Wildcats already sit just three wins shy of equaling the victories from an 8-20 campaign in 2019-20.

Northwestern’s early schedule was buoyed by blowout wins against the likes of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Chicago State and Quincy out of conference, but aside from a 71-70 loss to Pittsburgh, the Wildcats haven’t let up when facing the next tier of competition.

Against Tom Izzo’s Spartans this past weekend, the Wildcats won by a commanding 14-point margin, handing Michigan State its first loss of the season while holding Sparty under 75 points for the first time all season.

The Wildcats proved it was no fluke on Wednesday, as they left Assembly Hall with a seven-point win over Indiana to start conference play with two impressive victories in a row.

Leading the way for Northwestern thus far has been sophomore guards Boo Buie and Chase Audige, a prolific pair of New York natives that are the team’s top two scorers with averages of 14.5 and 13.8 points per game, respectively.

Buie was particularly instrumental in the win over Michigan State, dropping 30 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including knocking down 5-of-6 3s, all in just 24 minutes of action.

Audige, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard in his first year on the court for the Wildcats after transferring from William & Mary, dropped 17 in Northwestern’s win over Indiana, and has scored in double digits in all but one game this season.

But Northwestern has gotten plenty of frontcourt production as well, as 2018’s No. 66 and No. 67 overall prospects, 6-foot-7 Miller Kopp and 6-foot-10 Pete Nance, are each averaging more than 10 points a game so far.

Kopp is putting up 13.8 a night with a staggering .542 rate from behind the 3-point line, and Nance is averaging a team-high 7.3 rebounds to go alone with his 10.7 points per game.

Ohio State’s size disadvantage will likely be a talking point going into every Big Ten game it plays this season, but against Northwestern, the perimeter shooting battle could be even more important.

Shooting .427 from 3 as a team, Northwestern ranks No. 8 in the country and second in the Big Ten. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes are the second-worst 3-point shooting ensemble in the conference, hitting .322 of their attempts.

Northwestern also defends the 3 better than every team in the conference but one, limiting opponents to a conversion rate of .286 from behind the line. Ohio State, on the other hand, is dead last in 3-point defense, allowing opponents an average shooting percentage of .381 from deep.

Junior guard Duane Washington’s 3-point barrage in the second half against Rutgers may be an indication that the Buckeyes’ percentages may be on the rise, but long droughts will not be desirable against a team as potent from long range as the Wildcats.

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Ohio State got career-high scoring performances from Washington (22) and forwards E.J. Liddell (21) and Kyle Young (17) on Wednesday, which is hardly a realistic expectation on a night to night basis, but the explosion from Young was a positive sign after the senior had shown limited offense up until that point this season.

The Buckeyes and Wildcats tip off at 2 p.m. Saturday in Evanston, Illinois.