INDIANAPOLIS — It’s over and out — or is it? — for Northwestern after a XX-XX loss to Wisconsin on Thursday in the second round of the Big Ten men’s tournament.
The Wildcats’ Big Ten season is over. The wait begins to find out if they’ll be invited to participate in a postseason tournament, not to mention if they’d accept an invitation.
At 17-16, they have zero chance at a third straight NCAA Tournament bid. The NIT will begin Tuesday with 32 teams in the bracket. There’s also the new, 16-team College Basketball Crown tournament in Las Vegas, which will include two automatic qualifiers from the Big East, the Big Ten and the Big 12 as well as 10 other at-large teams that didn’t qualify for the Big Dance.
After leading Minnesota almost wire to wire in the opening round at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the 13th-seeded Wildcats stayed in front of the fifth-seeded Badgers (24-8) for the first 10-plus minutes. The Badgers took their first lead on a corner three by Kamari McGee, part of a 15-5 blitz in under three and a half minutes, and led 37-30 at the half after star John Tonje took the Wildcats’ Nick Martinelli one-on-one and hit a buzzer-beating turnaround jumper.
A flagrant foul on Martinelli led to a free throw that gave the Badgers their first double-digit lead in the second half. The lead maxed out at 18 on a Steven Crowl reverse with 6:02 to go.
Martinelli, the Big Ten’s scoring leader, finished with 22 points.
Wisconsin will play UCLA in a quarterfinal matchup on Thursday.