No matter how much we complain about the disappointment of Northwestern sports, the Wildcats have given us more than a few memorable moments this year. Our writers pick their favorites.
Football crushes Minnesota 27-0, Steven Reese does the macarena – Will Fischer
Let’s flashback to October 3. Northwestern football was 4-0, had beaten Stanford and Duke and was the No. 16 team in the country. But the ‘Cats hadn’t started Big Ten play yet, and the conference’s tough style of football would surely slow NU. So when Minnesota visited Evanston that Saturday morning, expectations were tempered. And then the Wildcats surprised everybody.
NU absolutely dominated Minnesota the whole game, holding the Gophers to 173 total yards of offense and never even letting them advance past the 31-yard line. It was the ‘Cats first shutout in Big Ten play since 1995 and their second in five games, inspiring comparisons to the famous 1995 Rose Bowl team. Clayton Thorson had one of his best games all year, completing 14 of 19 passes, rushing for two touchdowns and not turning the ball over once.
With a 5-0 record, one of the best defenses in the country and nothing but promise ahead, there was only one thing left to do – dance.
Northwestern wins, 27-0. This calls for Macarena and hip thrust. https://t.co/cWSSiyCe2r
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 3, 2015
Steven Reese’s macarena (if that’s what we are going to call it) went viral, and become a symbol of Northwestern’s success. The Wildcats were dancing, winning and having fun, and it seemed like this NU football team could do anything. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much dancing the next two weeks, as the ‘Cats plummeted back down to Earth after losing big to Michigan and Iowa. But Northwestern still had one of its best seasons ever, setting a program record with 10 regular season wins and leaving us with plenty of special memories.
Women’s basketball dominates on Minion Day – Rob Schaefer
It was a brisk January afternoon in Evanston and Northwestern women’s basketball was good. After starting the season 11-2, the ’Cats were set for their Big Ten home opener against Nebraska, and it went about as well as anyone could expect. NU eviscerated the visiting Cornhuskers 85-62 that afternoon, and, above all, it was freakin’ Minion Day at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The game was graced with countless Minion-themed animations on the jumbotron, and there was even Minion Bowling on the court during one of the quarter breaks.
However, the post-Minion Day hangover proved disastrous for Northwestern, as they finished the season just 6-15 after the win. If you graphed the trajectory of the Wildcats’ season, this 23-point rout represented a definite peak. But, as with the sudden decline of any sports team, there is a lesson to be learned here, and it came straight from the mouth of the ever-wise Joe McKeown during the postgame press conference. It is these words that represent my favorite Northwestern sports moment from this year.
— NBN Sports (@nbn_sports) January 3, 2016
"We need to make Minion day every day" something Joe McKeown actually just said wow
Took the words right out of my mouth, Joe.
Volleyball upset defending National Champion Penn State – Tim Hackett
On October 10, the unthinkable occurred: Northwestern volleyball won a Big Ten game, and they did it against the defending national champions. In a thrilling, five-set match for the ages, Northwestern knocked off Penn State, then ranked No. 3 in the country, for the first time since 2002.
The victory was truly due to a team performance. Taylor Tashima was terrific in particular, dishing out a match-high 52 assists and helping four players to double-digit kills. Northwestern hit .433 as a team in the first set, one of their highest hitting percentages in a set all season. The defense, which was a weak spot most of the year, did a tremendous job of negating a talented Penn State offense, limiting the Nittany Lions to just a .193 hitting percentage.
The match was special at the time, but it may have additional prestige because of its uniqueness: Northwestern didn’t beat another ranked team after beating the nation’s third-best, and Penn State got its revenge a month later with a straight sets win in Pennsylvania. Still, it was a moment that the team won’t soon forget, and departing senior Carks Niedospial was quick to rank it towards the top in her favorite moments as a Wildcat.
Basketball took down Wisconsin and B-Mac went off – Max Goodman
The undisputed highlight of the Northwestern basketball season was a thrilling 70-65 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers on January 12. Northwestern’s first victory at home against the rival Badgers in seven years pushed the Wildcats’ record up to 15-3 and at the time, catapulted the ‘Cats into midseason Big Ten contention. NU was also off to its best start in program history and reaching its first NCAA Tournament was a real possibility.
The biggest takeaway from this electrifying contest, however, was sophomore Bryant McIntosh’s performance and rise to stardom. B-Mac dropped a game high 28 points and had Welsh-Ryan Arena booming in excitement - even evoking a few ‘M-V-P’ chants from the Northwestern student section. The point guard’s play was truly dominant, giving Wildcat fans a vision of what McIntosh is capable of and inspiring hope for the future.