UConn basketball looks to extend their winning streak to nine games as they take on the Northwestern Wildcats.
This round of 32 matchup takes place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn at 7:45 p.m. EST and UConn currently stands as a 14.5-point favorite. A 9-seed has played in the round of 32 a total of 78 times with only 8 of those teams advancing on to the second weekend. Meanwhile, 128 of the 150 1-seeds to make the round of 32 have gone on to play in the Sweet 16.
Northwestern Wildcats
Northwestern made it into the field of 68 with an at-large bid after losing in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals to Wisconsin. The Wildcats took care of business with a dominating overtime performance over FAU in the Round of 64 to advance to this matchup with UConn basketball.
Northwestern opened the season with a 10-2 record in their non-conference schedule including a win over Rhode Island in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament. The Big Ten schedule didn’t treat the Wildcats as well, but they still managed to get a big win over Illinois who was ranked in the AP Top 10 at the time.
The name to know from this Wildcats squad is obviously Boo Buie. In his fifth year at Northwestern, Buie is the leading scorer in program history and is averaging just over 19 points per game this season. Head Coach Chris Collins has the utmost confidence in his star, especially down the stretch in tight games.
Another name to know is Princeton transfer Ryan Langborg who has proven to be a seriously clutch player that Chris Collins can rely on. Last season, he scored the go-ahead basket in Princeton’s upset of Arizona and on Friday he scored 12 points in the overtime period to help the Wildcats take down FAU.
Coach Collins isn’t naive to the challenge at hand, but he also isn’t going to crack any jokes about Northwestern’s chances to win either. Look for Boo Buie to run the offense and if things are close later in the game don’t be shocked if Langborg goes into takeover mode.
Collins on preparing for UConn: “It’s one game. If we had to play them in a best-of-seven, we’re not going to win a series. They’re the better team across the board. That doesn’t mean on one night, you can’t put it together. Our guys, they’re relishing the opportunity.”
— Inside NU (@insidenu) March 23, 2024
UConn Huskies
The wagon continues to roll as UConn basketball dominated Stetson in their opening game of the tournament. All five of the Huskies starters scored in double figures as they took a commanding lead early in the game and never looked back. It becomes harder and harder to expect anything less than victory from UConn basketball as they approach every game with the utmost confidence and discipline.
A large part of that discipline can be credited to their head coach Dan Hurley who is incredible at taking anything positive and spinning it into a teaching moment for his players. Despite entering halftime with a 52-19 lead over Stetson, Hurley was visibly frustrated with his team during his halftime interview as he was unhappy with the way his players coasted into the break instead of continuing to apply the pressure.
Considering how deep this UConn basketball team is, it’s difficult to highlight any single player in a preview. Stop one or two Huskies and the other three on the court are going to burn you. Good luck to Northwestern, but it’s difficult to predict anything besides a UConn victory in this matchup.
Husky fans, if you are looking for any extra pre-game hype for this matchup then I cannot recommend the below video enough!
This time of year, it’s UConn against the world. #MadeForMarch | #MixForSix pic.twitter.com/eMR1guvUtL
— UConn Men’s Basketball (@UConnMBB) March 22, 2024