Northwestern discovers program’s identity in second NCAA Tournament run

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Everybody has a breaking point.

People’s thresholds for discomfort and adversity vary, of course, but everyone has a limit.

After Northwestern spent an entire season on the receiving end of the college basketball world’s doubts about what the program could accomplish and disbelief about what it did, coach Chris Collins still hadn’t had enough.

In fact, he wanted more.

“It still stings right now because I really wanted to keep going with these guys,” Collins said. “There are a lot of years where you’re kind of OK if it ends. I was not OK. I wanted to keep fighting with these guys.”

It was a vulnerable and refreshing admission by the 10-year NU coach. There aren’t many who would disclose that some years, coaching some teams, you just want it to be over.

Looking back at Collins’ recent history, it’s easy to see which years those might’ve been. It could’ve been any one of his five losing seasons that followed the Wildcats’ first NCAA Tournament berth in 2017.

But that wasn’t the point he was trying to make. Collins’ comment wasn’t an indictment on past teams. It was the clearest way he could say what this team did was special, and it went beyond what it accomplished on the court.

“What this group has done for me this year, and it’s nothing about job security,” Collins said. “I’m talking about how they’ve invigorated me as a coach was really special. I’ll always be indebted to those guys for that.”

On Saturday night, NU played one of its strongest halves of basketball all season, making its best effort to steal a trip to the Sweet 16 from No. 2 seed UCLA.

The Wildcats were almost successful after a rally led by Boo Buie and Chase Audige in the second half erased a 13-point deficit. Audige scored all 16 of his points in the second half, Buie scored a team-high 18 points and Matt Nicholson had a career night with 17 points on 7-for-7 shooting.

When the game appeared as if it might get out of hand in the waning minutes of the first half, NU came up with a response rooted in a pact Collins established with his team at the start of the season.

“Let’s just stay in the present,” Collins requested of his team.

That’s exactly what the Wildcats did in those final minutes of the first half, cutting UCLA’s lead to 10. It’s what they proceeded to do in the second half, tying the game with 11 minutes to play.

Collins’ team outrebounded UCLA 34-28 and limited the Bruins to five second-chance points. NU won the second half 38-33, but the 10-point hole they dug in the first was too much to overcome.

Despite the program’s second trip to the NCAA Tournament resulting in the same second-round exit, this team took Northwestern a step farther.

“I never felt like we had an identity,” Collins said. “What these guys have done is they’ve set an identity to our program. An identity of work, toughness and defense that will carry over.”

Collins will need it to carry over to win in the Big Ten outside of the league’s down years. Yes, eight Big Ten teams made the tournament, but only two were top-four seeds. No. 1 Purdue was bounced in the first round.

Wherever Collins takes this program in the years to come, he’ll do it with a newfound distinguishing quality, and he owes that to this group, anchored by Buie and Audige. Both have a year of eligibility remaining, along with senior forward Robbie Beran.

They haven’t said what their plans are, leaving open the possibility that the program’s future could include them.

“We had our whole hearts into winning this tournament,” Buie said. “We really believed, even though other people didn’t. We’re going to go back, get rest and figure out [our remaining eligibility] later. But our hearts were left out on the floor [Saturday].”