A little more than two weeks ago, No. 19 Northwestern played like one of the best teams in the Big Ten and
beat Michigan State 76-48.
Meeting again Monday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena, the Wildcats went into their second matchup against the Spartans with a similar game plan to that January win. However, there was one key difference this time: coach Joe McKeown would not be on the sidelines orchestrating his team’s performance.
McKeown missed Monday’s game due to an illness, forcing NU to elevate assistant coach Kate Popovec — a former Cats player who joined the staff in 2017 — to be its interim coach.
But McKeown’s absence didn’t impact NU’s (20-3, 10-2 Big Ten) success, as the team won 85-55 over Michigan State (11-12, 4-8), completing a season sweep of the Spartans for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
Junior guard Lindsey Pulliam and sophomore guard Veronica Burton shined — scoring 31 points and 23 points, respectively — and the Big Ten’s second-best scoring defense held Michigan State to its second-lowest scoring total of the season.