Feb. 08--MADISON, Wis. -- Northwestern's growing process continued Saturday against No. 5 Wisconsin at the Kohl Center.
The Wildcats (10-13, 1-9 Big Ten) suffered their ninth straight loss, 65-50. Wisconsin improved to 21-2, 9-1.
But coach Chris Collins reminds his young hplayers that better times are ahead.
The Badgers surged to a quick 21-4 lead before the Wildcats began to respond. By halftime Wisconsin led 37-21.
Nigel Hayes and Sam Dekker each had 11 first-half points for Wisconsin. The Wildcats, who shot just 32 percent in the first half, got six points from freshman guard Bryant McIntosh.
"When it's not going well and you have a string of losses like we have, you can have a tendency to get beaten down and we can't afford it because we are developing," Collins said. "We're growing and while we're doing that we are going to try to win. And that's not going to change. We're going to fight. But in the grand scheme of things we need our guys to get better."
fmitchell@tribpub.com
Twitter @kicker34
Can Northwestern pull off another major upset of Wisconsin?
