Tag: Northwestern Wildcats

What Juwan Howard said after Michigan’s 85-66 win over Northwestern

What the Michigan basketball head coach had to say in his postgame press conference after the Wolverines won, 85-66.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Juwan Howard was certainly pleased with his team’s performance on Sunday night, as No. 16 Michigan absolutely dominated No. 19 Northwestern at Crisler Center, 85-66.

The Wolverines looked sluggish to start, but it didn’t last long. Whether it was the unselfish play of the offense or the defense — led by Franz Wagner shutting down Pete Nance — the team looked absolutely complete and thorough in its domination.

Naturally, Howard was all smiles after the game, as he spoke about what made Michigan basketball capable of taking down one of the surprise teams in the Big Ten.

Here’s everything Howard had to say in his postgame press conference.

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5 things Michigan fans should know about Northwestern

With Northwestern coming to town on Sunday, here’s what Michigan basketball fans should know about the Wildcats.

The No.16 Michigan Wolverines will have a tough foe on Sunday as they host No.19 Northwestern Wildcats.

The maize and blue are still undefeated – 8-0 (3-0) – and remain as the only Big Ten team that is unbeaten. The Wildcats will be the first ranked team that the Wolverines have faced this basketball season, and it could really bolster Michigan’s resume come March.

The Big Ten conference has nine ranked teams in the current AP Top 25 poll, so it goes without saying that this is a really good basketball conference. If Michigan hopes to win the Big Ten then they need to protect home court – it will be crucial all year long to win at home – and win against the good teams in Ann Arbor.

Northwestern, which is 6-2 (3-1), lost to Iowa this past week, but it also just got done defeating three straight Big Ten teams before that loss. The Wildcats defeated Michigan State, Indiana in Bloomington, and won at home against Ohio State. Northwestern is off to a stellar start, and is hoping last year is behind them – when it went 8-23 (3-17).

Before watching the game on Sunday, here are five things you should know about Northwestern.

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Twitter reacts to Auburn’s loss against Northwestern

Auburn kept it close for a bit but Northwestern ultimately pulled away in a frustrating and embarrassing loss for the Tigers.

Nothing summarizes the last eight years of Auburn football better than a 35-19 loss to Northwestern. The Tigers were 2-13 on third down and the defense gave up 457 total yards. It’s worth noting that Auburn was without a head coach as well as their best defensive back, running back, and second-best wide receiver.

The game lasted about three hours, but felt like an eternity. When the clock struck zero it was safe to say that many were just relieved to see that it was over. Here’s what fans had to say.

The ultimate takeaway from this loss is that Bryan Harsin has A LOT of work to do starting with a new staff and offensive line. The Tigers may not have started off 2021 with a win, but they have an opportunity to completely hit the reset button and that’s much needed right now.

Re-live the Ohio State Big Ten Championship Game win thanks to the OSU creative team

The Ohio State creative team created a five-minute highlight video of the Big Ten Championship game win over Northwestern. Watch it here.

It was just a little over a week ago when Ohio State took care of business in Indianapolis to take home its fourth-straight Big Ten Championship. You probably have the whole game on your DVR, but thanks to the OSU creative team you can also watch a five-minute cut of the highlights of how it all went down.

All you need to do is click on the below shared to the official Twitter feed of the Ohio State Football account and enjoy. It goes through the beginning of the game, Northwestern’s solid and well-played start, to Trey Sermon gobbling up a ton of yards, all the way through Ryan Day’s comments in the OSU locker room after.

It’s a thing of beauty, and we can’t wait to see what we get next from the Ohio State creative team as we lead into the Sugar Bowl this week.

Ahh, doesn’t it involve a lot less stress going through all of this knowing that Ohio State was victorious?

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Ohio State basketball vs. Northwestern preview, prediction, and odds

Ohio State hits the road to take on a Northwestern Wildcat basketball team playing at a high level. We’ve got your preview and prediction.

Records

Ohio State 7-1, Northwestern 5-1

Broadcast, TV, Game Time

Date: Saturday, December 26
Game Time: 2:00 p.m. EST
Venue: Welsch-Ryan Arena, Evanston, IL
Network: FS1

It looks to be yet another stern test for the Ohio State basketball team. After polishing off a rather impressive win against a highly ranked Rutgers squad, the Buckeyes must travel to Evanston to take on a Northwestern team that’s playing some excellent basketball.

While the Wildcats weren’t expected to contend for much during all the preseason buzz in the Big Ten, they’ve done nothing but impress. The only loss is a one-point game against Pitt, and they already have one of the best wins of the young conference season, a double-digit home win against Michigan State.

It’ll take an Ohio State team playing at the top of its game to pull this one off, and we’ve got everything you need to know for the game. We start with the likely game plan for the Buckeyes to walk out a victor on this, the day after Christmas.

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Next … The Ohio State game plan

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Ohio State basketball slightly favored over Northwestern according to BetMGM

The Ohio State basketball team is a slight favorite over Northwestern according to the line set by the popular sportsbook BetMGM.

The Ohio State basketball team won’t have much time recoup from Christmas as it travels to Evanston, Illinois to take on a Northwestern team that is playing really well. The Wildcats have already knocked off one of the big boys in the league with an impressive win over Michigan State at home, and the only loss is a one-point affair against Pitt.

In other words, the Buckeyes will be challenged despite playing some pretty good basketball themselves.  But so is life in the big city of rough and tumble Big Ten.

The popular online sportsbook BetMGM agrees as well. It has Ohio State favored by just -3.5 points against a team that isn’t expected to contend near the top of the league, though we’ll have to let it all play out.

Odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook.

It’s another day in the Big Ten, and the Buckeyes will have to bring their A-game to continue a very good start to the season.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Ohio State basketball vs. Northwestern: How and where to watch and listen to the game Saturday

Ohio State basketball travels to Evanston to take on Northwestern in a key Big Ten contest. Here’s how to find the game to watch or listen.

The Ohio State basketball team travels on the road to take on Northwestern after a big win at home against a highly ranked Rutgers squad. The victory evened the Buckeyes’ Big Ten record to 1-1 and improved the overall record to 7-1.

And while that’s great, the conference is a Donnybrook. That means it’s on to yet another challenge, playing a Wildcat team that is 5-1 and has a win over a fourth-ranked Michigan State team already on the young season. In other words, it’s never an easy night or day in the Big Ten, and that applies here.

We know you’re looking for something to do after Christmas day to de-fuzz and get back into the swing of things, so we’ve got all the information you need to find and watch or listen to the game.

NEXT … Television, streaming, and radio information

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Handing out grades for Ohio State’s win over Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship game

Ohio State took care of business against Northwestern and are Big Ten champs. We hand out grades for each unit and look at snap counts.

We started a new piece here on Buckeyes Wire a few weeks ago and it was received well, so we’re going at it again. After each game, we hand out grades for each position group and look at the snap counts for both the offense and defense. In this case, we get to look back at the win over Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship game. It wasn’t pretty, but the trophy and rings that come with the victory will be.

I know we’re all looking ahead to a chance at redemption against Clemson, but after going through the film and watching OSU’s less than stellar performance against the Wildcats, we’ve got a better sense of who performed well, who needs a little work, and some other fun stats to wrap up the analysis of what we saw in Indianapolis on Saturday.

We’ll start with snap counts, then look at how individuals and various position groups graded out.

Ohio State Buckeyes snap counts

Offense

Justin Fields 74 Wyatt Davis 74 Julian Fleming 52
Harry Miller 74 Garrett Wilson 73 Jameson Williams 41
Josh Myers 74 Trey Sermon 64 Kamryn Babb 20
Nicholas Petit-Frere 74 Luke Farrell 56 Master Teague III 8
Thayer Munford 74 Jeremy Ruckert 52 Miyan Williams 2

Top Offensive PFF Grades

  1. Trey Sermon: 91.4
  2. Thayer Munford: 81.9
  3. Nicholas Petit-Frere: 70.8
  4. Master Teague: 70.7

Defense

Josh Proctor 72 Justin Hilliard 61 Taron Vincent 22
Pete Werner 72 Jonathon Cooper 55 Antwuan Jackson 18
Shaun Wade 72 Tommy Togiai 50 Lathan Ransom 12
Sevyn Banks 71 Tyreke Smith 47 Dallas Gant 5
Tuf Borland 68 Haskell Garrett 46 Jerron Cage 4
Marcus Williamson 67 Zach Harrison 40 Teradja Mitchell 4

Top Defensive PFF Grades

  1. Zach Harrison: 83.7
  2. Lathan Ransom: 80.0
  3. Haskell Garrett: 79.0
  4. Josh Proctor: 78.4
  5. Justin Hilliard: 76.3

Ohio State names its players of the game for the Big Ten Championship Game win over Northwestern

Ohio State named its Players of the Game for the Big Ten Championship game win over Northwestern. You can probably guess a couple of them.

The Ohio State football program won its fourth-straight Big Ten Championship Saturday. And while things looked a little bleak for a while against a well-coached and highly motivated Northwestern team, the Buckeyes were able to pull it out thanks to running back Trey Sermon and the ground game.

Each week, after the coaches get to look back on film and grade players out, the Ohio State football program announces its players of the week, and you’re probably not going to be too surprised about who was recognized this week.

Punter Zach Hoover was awarded the Special Teams Player of the Game. He filled in admirably for Drue Chrisman who was lost to coronavirus protocols. Hoover dropped two of his three punts inside the ten-yard line and averaged over 40 yards per effort.

In a really cool moment for hard-luck linebacker Justin Hilliard, he was named the Defensive Player of the Game. He too was filling in for a missing starter, Baron Browning, and was all over the field. He intercepted a key pass in the end zone, but also had five tackles, two tackles for loss, and a fumble recovery.

And lastly, you know who received the Offensive Player of the Game. Trey Sermon had the best single day ever for an Ohio State running back, breaking Eddie George’s program record by toting the rock for 331 yards on 29 carries (11.4 ypc). He found the end zone twice.

Well done by all three of these guys and many more. The fact that all of these guys aren’t the so-called unquestioned starter speaks volumes for the depth of the program at Ohio State.

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Big Ten Championship game between Ohio State and Northwestern highest rated event in Noon window

The Big Ten Championship Game between Ohio State and Northwestern was the highest-rated event in the broadcast window Saturday.

Once again, Ohio State football turned on television and streaming devices. According to Nielsen Media Research, Saturday’s Big Ten Championship between No. 4 Ohio State and No. 14 Northwestern drew a 5.4 metered market rating on FOX, the day’s highest-rated event in the time slot.

This marked another high in a busy sports day. Also, BIG NOON KICKOFF registered a 1.0 metered market rating on FOX from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM ET, the highest-rated pregame show in that hour. Yes, folks that means it also beat ESPN’s College Gameday during that window.

As followers of Ohio State, we know where your allegiances lie. Urban Meyer has been a great asset for FOX. His engaging commentary and analysis has quickly made the BIG NOON KICKOFF Show a trusted and entertaining preamble to Buckeye football games.

Urban Meyer, FOX College Football crew discuss Ohio State CFP resume
Urban Meyer and FOX College Football Crew.

We can safely say that this experiment of moving the biggest games to the Noon window FOX has embarked upon over the last couple of seasons has been a resounding success. You can attribute a lot of that to the mutual cooperation between Urban Meyer, Ohio State football, the Big Ten, and FOX.

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