Illinois keeps NCAA hopes (barely) alive, damages Northwestern’s

Only a sick, twisted sort would allow his imagination to conjure a potential Illinois-Northwestern clash next month in Washington D.C., with an NCAA Tournament berth at stake for both teams. So let’s go there.

Oh, it could happen. It probably won’t, but don’t you dare dismiss the possibility. After the Illini’s 66-50 victory over the Wildcats in Champaign, I’m wondering how well I know either of these teams.

For Northwestern, it was a disastrous performance. With a chance to notch a school-record 21^st victory and end all speculation about their long-awaited Big Dance debut, the Wildcats instead went backward in time. Entering Tuesday’s meeting, they’d split their last 12 games with Illinois. But before that came a 1-18 stretch in the rivalry.

That’s the Northwestern we just saw. The Northwestern that has no life. The Northwestern that has no chance.

The Wildcats made five field goals in the entire second half. They were destroyed on the glass. They were beaten to seemingly every 50-50 ball.

Three regular-season games remain: at Indiana, and at home against Michigan and Purdue. If the Wildcats lose them all — would it be a big surprise? — they’ll enter the league tournament needing, in the very worst way, at least one more victory.

And then there are John Groce and the Illini. Dead? No, not yet. The Illini are 16-12 overall and 6-9 in the Big Ten, but they’ve won two straight league games — for the first time since the 2014-15 season, mind you — and have three winnable games to go.

At Nebraska? At home against depleted Michigan State? At Rutgers? None of those tasks sounds particularly tough.

If the Illini win out and the Wildcats lose out, both teams will finish 9-9 in league play. Neither will be in the tourney field at that point. So, what if they meet under those circumstances in D.C.?

It could happen.

PARTY? NOT FOR SPARTY

It has been nearly a year, though the image is so vivid it seems more like yesterday.

After popular national championship pick Michigan State was stunned by 15 seed Middle Tennessee State in the opening round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament, coach Tom Izzo sat on a press-conference podium next to his seniors and tried — unsuccessfully — to hold himself together.

It was right up there with Lehigh over Duke in 2012, Hampton over Iowa State in 2001 or any other upset the tournament has seen, and it hurt like hell. Not merely because the Spartans lost, but because Izzo felt his seniors, led by Bulls rookie Denzel Valentine, deserved a better ending.

As Valentine leaned into a microphone and took responsibility for the defeat, Izzo tenderly laid a hand on his shoulder. Then the longtime coach turned his head and cried.

“I don’t care about next year. I don’t care about tomorrow,” was about all Izzo could say.

Ah, but time marches on. One of the things that has made Izzo great is how deeply he cares about each season and each team, the current one being no exception. And it has been a rough go from the start for a Spartans squad that sits at a hugely disappointing 16-11 (8-6 Big Ten) with four regular-season games to go.

The opponents include league heavyweights Wisconsin and Maryland, and Izzo’s group will be learning on the fly to play without senior guard Eron Harris, whose career was cut short Saturday by a major knee injury.

Indeed, the Spartans — trying to reach the tournament for the 20^th consecutive season — are on the bubble.

“I don’t feel great about where we are, but I feel good that everybody’s moving in the same direction and we’ve still got a lot of things to play for,” Izzo said. “There are a lot of teams around the country that are in the same boat or worse off than us, except for our injuries.”

One of those teams is Michigan, playing better of late yet still an easy-to-overlook 17-10 (7-7 Big Ten). The Wolverines close with of their last four regular-season games on the road. The one home game: against Purdue, arguably the best team in the conference.

Four years ago, Michigan was gearing up for a postseason run that would reach the national championship game. The season after that ended in the Elite Eight. Since then: a whole lot of nothing.

It has been a strange couple of months in the Big Ten, where the overall quality is way down and the brand names (hello, Indiana) don’t seem to carry any weight.

Maybe both the Michigan schools will get into the Big Dance. Maybe they’ll even make some noise. More likely, they’ll go quietly — perhaps so quietly, the rest of us will hardly notice.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

No. 7 Louisville at No. 8 North Carolina (Wednesday, 8 p.m., ESPN): Both teams are long, athletic and happy to play at a fast clip, so this one should be a blast. When UNC’s Justin Jackson and Louisville’s Donovan Mitchell go head-to-head, you’ll want to be watching. Hard to believe: It’s the Tar Heels’ first top 10 matchup at home in five years.

No. 13 Florida at No. 11 Kentucky (Saturday, 1 p.m., Ch. 2): Any time the Wildcats are in a game for first place this late in the season, it’s must-watch. Can the Gators really steal the SEC title from the bluegrass blue-blood? Last time the teams met, UK was destroyed on the boards and blown out of the gym. But that was in Gainesville.

No. 14 Purdue at Michigan (Saturday, 3 p.m., ESPN2): When Moe Wagner is good, he’s really good. He’s also skinny as a rail. Can he and fellow Wolverine D.J. Wilson use their quickness to offset the devastating size of Boilermakers duo Caleb Swanigan and Isaac Haas? Michigan’s rebounding problems could be the story here.

No. 5 UCLA at No. 4 Arizona (Saturday, 7:15 p.m., ESPN): This could be where the Wildcats lock up the Pac-12 regular-season title, though the Bruins will be determined to atone for their 11-point loss at home in the teams’ first meeting. So much talent on the floor in this one, it’s ridiculous.

No. 12 Wisconsin at Michigan State (Sunday, 3 p.m., Ch. 2): As senior point guard Bronson Koenig inches back toward 100 percent, the Badgers are a few good plays from clinching first place in the Big Ten. And what does Greg Gard’s team do other than make good plays when it needs to? Tough matchup for the Spartans, who could use one more quality win on their résumé.

TRENDING

Up: Allonzo Trier, Arizona. The Wildcats have been a different team since the do-it-all sophomore entered the lineup after a 19-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.

Down: Syracuse. From the Final Four a year ago to 16-12 with games against Duke and Louisville still to come? Now that’s being on the bubble — barely.

Up: No. 3 Kansas. How about that clutch victory at Baylor over the weekend? It put a 13^th consecutive Big 12 regular-season title in the bag for the Jayhawks. Thirteen — unreal.

Follow me on Twitter @slgreenberg.

Email: sgreenberg@suntimes.com