SACRAMENTO, Calif. — If Northwestern’s second-round loss to UCLA feels like déjà vu, there’s a good reason for it.
Exactly six years ago to the day, Northwestern was wrapping up its historic tournament run after a comeback against No. 1 Gonzaga fell short.
This time around, it was a 2-seed that closed the curtain on NU’s second appearance in the round of 32 with a 68-62 loss.
Mick Cronin and his Bruins team did what was expected. Pac-12 player of the year Jaime Jacquez Jr. powered his team past the Wildcats and into the Sweet 16. He finished with 24 points shooting 11-for-19 from the field. Amari Bailey, who grew up in Chicago before moving out to Los Angeles for high school added 14.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats heralded backcourt duo, Boo Buie and Chase Audige combined for five points in the first half. All of them came from Buie, who went 1-for-4 in the first but managed to get to the free-throw line for his three other first-half points.
Audige found his shot in the second half and powered the Wildcats' comeback attempt. He erupted for 10 quick points out of the halftime break cutting UCLA’s lead to just four with 13 minutes to play. By the 11-minute mark, it was a tie game.
But, just like six years ago, their comeback would fall short. Audige finished with 16 points, seven assists and two rebounds. Buie added 18 points and Matthew Nicholson had 15 shooting a perfect 7-for-7 inside and 3-for-4 from the free-throw line.
The tournament highlights for NU’s men’s basketball program can be summarized on a post-it note while UCLA has books and movies dedicated to its history.
It’s been nearly three decades since UCLA’s last NCAA title but they still lead the nation with 11. They came to Sacramento with the energy that the first two rounds of the tournament were merely practice for what’s to come.
The Wildcats waited 77 years to earn its first tournament berth in 2017 and followed up their history-making season by falling back to the bottom of the Big Ten. The remarkable thing was, the 2017 team came back the following season almost completely intact.
Collins acknowledged his failure — on more than one occasion this season — to lead his program through the celebration of making history and into the reality of what it takes to make a habit of it. So what will be different this time around?
The Big Ten was terrible this year, proven by the fact that the league’s top team No. 1 Purdue was ousted by Farleigh Dickinson in the first round. In the coming years, it will only get stronger with UCLA and USC becoming official members in 2024. So, what can Collins do to avoid the same pitfalls from 2017?
Buie, Audige and Beran all have a year left of eligibility. Their future with the program isn’t certain as they all acknowledged before this moment they hadn’t given it any thought.
“My focus has been completely on being present for this team,” Audige said ahead of Saturday’s game.
But he did acknowledge that he and Buie have had conversations about their future at Northwestern. Whether his senior trio returns or not Collins has his work cut out for him to prevent even more history from repeating itself.