No. 21 Northwestern will try to bounce back from its first loss in three weeks when it travels to Maryland on Sunday afternoon. The Wildcats had their five-game winning streak when they lost to Illinois on Thursday. Maryland has won three of its last four games, beating Minnesota by 18 points on Wednesday.
Northwestern has been consistently winning games throughout the season, especially over the past three weeks. The Wildcats won five straight games after Feb. 2, including wins over then-No. 1 Purdue and then-No. 14 Indiana. They added an 80-60 win over Iowa last Sunday before losing at Illinois on Thursday. The Wildcats held a 16-point lead over Illinois with 11 minutes left in the game, but they blew that advantage down the stretch. Boo Buie scored a career-high 35 points, but the other four starters shot just 5 of 26 and scored 14 points. That loss is not going to overshadow an impressive season for Northwestern, which was picked to finish second-to-last in the Big Ten preseason media poll.
You just can't stop Boo. ??@booboo_buie x @NUMensBball pic.twitter.com/moGPghv1bX
— Northwestern On BTN (@NUOnBTN) February 24, 2023
The Wildcats are all alone in second place in the conference standings coming into Sunday’s slate. They have relied on their defense to win games, as they rank No. 313 nationally in effective field goal percentage (47.5). Northwestern is shooting just 32.1% from 3-point range and 46.9% from inside the arc. The Wildcats are in the top 20 in turnover rate, though. They are facing a Maryland defense that is No. 38 in field goal percentage. Buie leads Northwestern with 17.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, while Chase Audige is adding 14.5 points and 2.9 assists. Robbie Beran (8.0) and Ty Berry (8.5) have both been key contributors as well.
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