Northwestern has lost two of their last three games. Two of those three games had very tough endings, the Iowa and Butler games, losing by a combined three points. This is also the first true road game for the Fighting Illini and Northwestern is 5-0 SU at home thus far. The Fighting Illini have a top 25 defense in terms of efficiency, partially due to level of competition, outside of a loss to Alabama and a solid win over Arkansas. The Wildcats offense isn’t as potent has last season but they’re the better free throw shooting team and have won the last two meetings at home while covering six of the last seven.