Meet the Opponent: Northwestern Struggling to Win, Stay Healthy

The Wildcats were down to seven healthy players on Sunday, a victim of graduate transfers and an untimely injury bug.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- No one expected a lot from Northwestern this season, and it was meant to be a year of rebuilding around several standout youngsters anyway.

But for the Wildcats, who come to Simon Skodjt Assembly Hall on Wednesday night to face Indiana, the start to this season has been even rougher than imagined.

The Wildcats are 5-8 overall and 0-3 in the Big Ten, the only conference team without a win thus far. It's difficult to see when the first one will come, too. According to futures projections, they are favored just once -- at home against Nebraska on Saturday -- the rest of the season.

That stat should put a little scare into nervous Hoosiers fans anyway, considering what's gone on with Indiana lately. But still, this should be a game the Hoosiers win handily.

Here are the particulars: 

Who: Northwestern Wildcats (5-8 overall, 0-3 in the Big Ten) vs. Indiana Hoosiers (11-3, 1-2).

When: Wednesday, Jan. 8, 7 p.m. ET

Where: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Ind.

Line: Indiana by 13.5 points per VegasInsider.com

TV: Big Ten Network 

Announcers: Kevin Kugler, Seth Davis.

Here are three things to know about the Northwestern Wildcats:

1. Injuries are mounting so bad, that fielding a team is difficult

Freshman guard Boo Buie, who's going to be a star, is out indefinitely with a stress fracture in this foot. He scored 65 points in his last three starts before the injury. Junior guard Anthony Gaines is out for the year (shoulder surgery) and forward A.J. Turner is day to day with a deep thigh bruise.

Throw in the three graduate transfers that left before the season and Northwestern played Sunday's game at Minnesota with just seven scholarship players. 

Miller Kopp and Pat Spencer are their two best remaining players. Both played basically the entire game Sunday in the loss to Minnesota, mostly because there were no other options. Spencer had 22 points and Kopp had 14. Kopp is their leading scorer, averaging 12.7 points per game. The Wildcats have five guys averaging in double figures.

2. But they also weren't very good before then

The Wildcats weren't very good in November, even with all 10 guys. They've suffered embarrassing losses at home to schools like Merrimack and Radford in November and lost to Hartford at home in late December. 

How bad are those losses? According to the kenpom.com national rankings, Radford is No. 126, Merrimack No. 285 and Hartford No. 301 out of 353 Division I teams. No Power 5 team should ever have those kind of losses. (Northwestern is No. 107, if you were curious.)

3. Is Chris Collins finally getting on the hot seat?

Chris Collins has a long leash in Evanston because he did the impossible a few years ago, taking Northwestern to its first-ever NCAA Tournament in 2017 and even winning a game.

But since then, he's just 33-44 and the rest of this season could get ugly. He hasn't been able to generate any recruiting momentum from the NCAA run and it's a hard league to work out your way up from the bottom. The Wildcats are clearly there right now. It's going to be hard to find wins, at least until Buie gets back.