Northwestern Basketball: 3 takeaways from blowout loss to No. 12 Illinois

2. A dominant piece of their stellar Big Ten opening, Boo Buie has gone missing for the Wildcats as of late

A key to Northwestern’s success is their balanced scoring – at least four players averaged double-figures entering this game, with one more averaging nine points per game.  Among those four – and who was one of the architects of Northwestern’s impressive start to the Big Ten regular-season – was Boo Buie, who poured in a career-high 30 points (4-9 2PT, 5-6 3PT, 7-8 FT) in the conference opener against Michigan State.

Buie followed up that performance with double-digit showings against Indiana (11 points) and Ohio State (14 points) – both of which were wins for the Wildcats.  But after his solid showing against the Buckeyes, Buie has endured an awful stretch, and it has killed Northwestern’s offense.

Against Iowa, the sophomore scored just two points in 28 minutes, going 1-4 on 2PT and 0-4 from beyond the arc – but contributed in other ways, hauling in six defensive rebounds and dishing out a career-high eight assists.  He followed that up with an even worse performance at Michigan, going scoreless in 25 minutes – but still handed out four assists.  Against Illinois, however, he was rendered ineffective, again going scoreless (0-6 FG) in just 15 minutes of play, recording just one assist to two turnovers – while committing four fouls.

Buie’s absence has been deadly for the Wildcats – he is involved in 23.1% of Northwestern’s possessions and takes 21.9% of the shots while he is in – and ranks among the nation’s best from beyond the arc, draining 43.8% of his three-pointers.  He has, by far and away, seen the most time on the floor of any of Northwestern’s point guards – and his inability to contribute has been a detriment to the Wildcats’ success.

Against Illinois, despite being involved in 27% of Northwestern’s possessions, Buie recorded the lowest offensive rating of any player in the game.  Of the ten Wildcats who saw action, Buie was the only one to maintain a negative efficiency rating at -7 – and he played the second-lowest number of minutes of any Northwestern player, just ahead of Matthew Nicholson’s single minute of action.

If the Wildcats hope to return to glory in a bloodbath of a Big Ten, they desperately need Buie to return to form.  As the floor general, the team’s success runs through him – and they need him to produce in order to have a chance against some of the nation’s best.