Hump day: Wednesday’s games huge for John Groce, Chris Collins

John Groce has been fighting for weeks to keep his job. For months, more like.

When you coach basketball at Illinois and the zealous fan base is staring at the unheard-of possibility of a fourth consecutive season without an NCAA tournament appearance, it’s all you can do to keep its disgust from swallowing you whole.

Bob, weave, duck, cover. Just stay in the fight. Just stay on your feet another day.

The fans — at least those with the loudest voices on social media — had Groce fired a long time ago. The national media certainly haven’t been shy about discussing potential replacements.

Frankly, only a real numbskull would ask the man at a time like this: So, John, where do you see yourself in five years?

‘‘Oh, man, what a question. Who the heck knows?’’ Groce told me Monday. ‘‘I’m going to leave that one up to God.’’

Groce’s other boss, Josh Whitman, might have something to say about it, too. Illinois’ first-year athletic director declined an invitation to discuss the matter.

If it’s a Big Dance-or-bust situation Groce finds himself in, at least he has stayed in the fight long enough to have a puncher’s chance. The Illini have won three games in a row to get to 17-12 overall and 7-9 in the Big Ten — not good enough yet, to be sure. But with Michigan State visiting Champaign on Wednesday (8 p.m., BTN), the first of two remaining regular-season games for the Illini, the opportunity is there to reach as high and far as possible and maybe, just maybe, find the so-called tournament bubble.

‘‘I’m excited,’’ Groce said. ‘‘We’re coming together and playing better.’’

Alas, the same can’t be said about Northwestern, which has a giant game of its own Wednesday against Michigan at Welsh-Ryan Arena (6 p.m., BTN). A month ago, the free world was in steadfast agreement that the Wildcats were a lock to make the tournament for the first time in school history. Since then, a measly pair of victories has been surrounded by five defeats.

If Chris Collins’ team doesn’t beat the Wolverines, it’ll try to find the courage and fortitude to take down Purdue — the best team in the conference — in the regular-season finale Sunday.

Otherwise . . . well, we just can’t be sure if the Wildcats will have done enough. From 18-4 entering February to the National Invitation Tournament in March? Would the NCAA tournament selection committee be that cruel and sadistic? Not that anyone wants to find out, but it might happen.

Northwestern is trying to avoid what history would regard as a sudden, stunning collapse, though one might more aptly describe it as a slow, excruciating death.

Collins was asked Tuesday by a real ray-of-sunshine type: Dude, how the heck are you even getting out of bed in the morning?

‘‘I’m doing great, man. I’m doing fine,’’ he told me. ‘‘It’s an exciting time of year to be playing games that matter.’’

Yeah, but the games haven’t been going very well lately.

‘‘I think if you’d have asked my team before the season if we’d have signed up for 20 wins at the end of February, 9-7 in the Big Ten, with two home games left, a lot of hands would’ve been raised,’’ he said.

That’s an excellent point.

So look at Wednesday as a real hump day for Northwestern and Illinois. One team needs to win to get over the hump and into March Madness. The other needs to win just to keep from being blown off the hump altogether.

It’s a pretty big moment for these coaches, too. Collins could use another big victory to cement his reputation as one of the top young coaches in the college game.

‘‘Do I believe our team is good enough?’’ he said. ‘‘Of course, I do.’’

And Groce? For all we know, his very career is on the line.

‘‘I love to win, and I hate losing,’’ he said. ‘‘But I do this for a bigger purpose than that. I see it as my work and my calling to help these guys reach their potential. God has placed me here, and I know that he wants me to do his work.’’

Bob, weave, pray. And whatever else it takes.

Follow me on Twitter @SLGreenberg.

Email: sgreenberg@suntimes.com

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Michigan at Northwestern

6 p.m. Wednesday, BTN: Nobody in the Big Ten is playing better ball than the Wolverines, who transformed in February from disappointing to court-scorching. The threes are falling from everywhere. The defense has gone from egregious to borderline outstanding. Can the Wildcats find the higher gear that has eluded them of late?

Michigan State at Illinois

8 p.m. Wednesday, BTN: The Spartans seem to be building up to a March peak — imagine that. We’ve only seen it every year in recent memory. It’ll take everything Illini bigs Maverick Morgan and Leron Black have to hang in there against Miles Bridges and Nick Ward. Does Malcolm Hill have some senior-day magic to keep the Illini in the NCAA tournament hunt?

No. 19 Notre Dame at No. 8 Louisville

1 p.m. Saturday, Ch. 2: Beating higher-profile ACC teams in March simply is what the Irish do, though this is a tall order. The Cardinals’ length and athleticism should give the Irish fits — ‘‘should’’ being the operative word. Notre Dame took Louisville to the mat eight weeks ago in South Bend, with Steve Vasturia, Matt Farrell and Bonzie Colson leading the way. The Cardinals have gone 11-3 in the best conference in the land since then.

No. 17 Duke at No. 5 North Carolina

7:15 p.m. Saturday, ESPN: The Blue Devils have more talent than the Tar Heels. Pound-for-pound, we’ll take Grayson Allen, Luke Kennard and Jayson Tatum every day of the week over Justin Jackson, Joel Berry II and Kennedy Meeks. Yet the Heels have an undeniable togetherness that’s hard to overlook. It has been one of coach Roy Williams’ finest seasons.

Minnesota at No. 22 Wisconsin

5 p.m. Sunday, BTN: There’s such a difference in team profiles. The Gophers are led by Nate Mason, Amir Coffey and Dupree McBrayer, guys who aren’t well-known at all. The Badgers have Final Four shine on Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig and a star in Ethan Happ. But the Gophers are on an incredible run in Big Ten play, and the Badgers are scuffling.

TRENDING

Up: Kansas, Villanova . . . and UCLA? Lock in the first two as No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament. The Bruins are close, too.

Down: No. 4 Gonzaga. So what’s the fallout after an unbeaten Zags team loses at home to BYU? We’re probably looking at a No. 2 seed for a team that has only one loss all season.

Up: No. 9 Kentucky. Coach John Calipari has gone out of his way to categorize this team as one that has yet to meet its potential. Where we come from, that typically means the Wildcats reach the Final Four.

Follow me on Twitter @SLGreenberg.

Email: sgreenberg@suntimes.com