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So, this didn't go well.
Illinois State isn't a good team. I'm not saying this out of disrespect for Illinois State -- I had tons of it last year. I say it because they lost nine players from last year's team, including their top six scorers. They have, I believe, three guys who played last year.
They soundly beat Northwestern for a half. It was 40-22. Northwestern was bad on offense and bad on defense.
There was a run late, where Illinois State stopped scoring and Northwestern kept going to the line, but the point was made. This Northwesetern team is going to struggle, and it's going to struggle even more than some of the Northwestern teams of recent years.
The lead turned out to be insurmountable. NU would eventually lose 68-64. And although there's still bright things to look forward to with Chris Collins in charge, this is going to be one of the least fun seasons of Northwestern athletics since the dark ages.