Northwestern left the final outcome in limbo for a long time, but the Wildcats are indeed dancing into the second round of the NCAA Tournament!

On Friday, the Wildcats faced off with Florida Atlantic, the darlings of the 2023 NCAA Tournament after a run to the Final Four a season ago. The Owls returned a lot of production from that team and maintained expectations for another deep run this March.

In the second half, Northwestern appeared ready to run away with things after building a 9-point lead. However, FAU did not go quietly and mounted a comeback to take the lead late in regulation.

Northwestern would rally again and tie things up with less than 10 seconds remaining to force overtime where the Wildcats were finally able to put things away with a 77-65 win. Here are the key takeaways from the game:

Ryan Langborg dominates OT

Ryan Langborg finished the game by leading all scorers with 27 points, but it was his work in overtime that carried the day. He lit up FAU by shooting 4-for-4 from the floor and 2-for-2 from deep with 12 points in the extra period.

As a team, the Wildcats outscored FAU 19-7 in overtime. Northwestern’s only miss after regulation came at the free-throw line as the Wildcats went 5-for-5 from the field.

A game of runs for Northwestern

Near the end of regulation, it appeared Northwestern’s March Madness story would end in heartbreak. At one point, the Wildcats led the Owls 54-45 with 6:43 left in the game.

FAU would end the game on a 13-4 run with Northwestern going almost 5 minutes without a single point. In fact, it took a Brooks Barnhizer bucket with 9 seconds left — and a questionable decision at the end of the game by the Owls — to even force overtime.

The good news is Northwestern was able to reset in overtime and safely get by FAU and into the round of 32.

Moving forward, the Wildcats are likely to get a matchup against No. 1 overall seed UConn as the Huskies prepare to face 16-seed Stetson. That game will come on Sunday, and fans can track the latest odds with Tradition’s Ohio online sportsbooks.

Disastrous first half overcome

After the first half of action, Northwestern did not look like an offensive team that was going to show up in the Big Dance. The Wildcats were shooting 7-for-33 (21%) from the field and just 2-for-12 from 3-point range while being held under 20 points.

Prior to halftime, Barnhizer was the only Wildcat player with multiple field goals. He had 7 points on 3-for-8 shooting at the break.

The second half proved to be an entirely different story. Even with the scoring drought to end regulation, Northwestern shot 17-for-31 in the second half to go with 4-for-9 shooting from deep.

To little surprise, Boo Buie was a main cog in the attack in the second half. Buie finished the game with 22 points on 8-for-20 shooting, but his numbers in the second half sparked the Wildcats.

15 of Buie’s points came in the second half as he shot 6-for-13 with a trio of 3-pointers to go with 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. And while he had just one bucket in overtime, it was a particularly meaningful — and beautiful — bucket.