How to Watch Northwestern Women's Basketball vs Purdue: Preview, Predictions, TV Channel
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The Northwestern Wildcats women's basketball team is just playing for pride now.
With a matinee home clash Sunday against the Purdue Boilermakers, the Wildcats are hoping to snap a brutal 10-game losing streak that has cost them shots at both the NCAA Tournament and even the Big Ten Tournament.
Game Preview
Purdue is on a three-game losing streak of its own, although that includes defeats against ranked Big Ten opponents like No. 13 Iowa and No. 14 Maryland. The 12-16 Boilermakers have also dropped eight of their last 10 contests overall.
Northwestern X-Factors
Senior Northwestern forward Grace Sullivan will look to notch a 19th game scoring 20 or more points this season. Overall, she has more than doubled her prior scoring average for a full season this year, and is in line for All-Big Ten consideration, regardless of how the Wildcats finish.
The 6-foot-4 Carmel Catholic big has been averaging 21.7 points on 53.5 percent shooting from the field and 76.7 percent free throw shooting, 6.2 rebounds, 1.1 steals, 1.0 assists and 0.8 blocks a night. Should she manage to find plenty of scoring space in the paint, the Wildcats will have a shot.
Senior guard Caroline Lau, , the Big Ten's assists leader with 8.3 dimes per (against 4.2 picks), needs to have yet another big passing game, while controlling her turnovers.
Prediction
The Wildcats will not survive against a motivated Purdue squad looking to shore up its spot in the Big Tournament. At present, the Boilermakers are the No. 15-ranked squad in the conference, and thus would barely make the cut-off if the season ended today.
Final Score Prediction: Purdue 68, Northwestern 55.
How to Watch, Listen
- Matchup: Northwestern (8-20, 2-15 B1G) vs Purdue (12-16, 4-13 B1G)
- When: Sunday, March 1
- Where: Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston, Illinois
- Time: 2 p.m. CST
- Watch: Big Ten Plus (TV)
- Listen: WGN Radio 720 AM, SiriusXM Channel 388, The Varsity Network
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An Evanston native, Alex Kirschenbaum is also a proud Northwestern alum. He has written for Bleacher Nation, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Hoops Rumors, Trailers From Hell, Men's Journal, and Bulls fan sites Blog-A-Bull and Pippen Ain't Easy, among others. Alex knows Zach Collins has given the Bulls some good years, but he'll never forgive the then-Gonzaga center for that very obvious goaltend against the Wildcats during the second round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament.