Northwestern's leading scorer will miss his second straight game when the Wildcats take on Illinois on Tuesday in Evanston.
Northwestern head coach Chris Collins told reporters Monday that Lindsey will sit out again after missing last week's game against Purdue, a game Northwestern lost by double digits, snapping the team's six-game winning streak.
"Scottie will be out for tomorrow, and that's really the only update I have right now," Collins said. "When he's ready to get out there, he'll get back out there. I know he's chomping at the bit, but for tomorrow, unfortunately, he won't be able to go."
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While Lindsey's absence was hardly the only reason the Cats were blown out by the Boilermakers last week, they certainly could've used his help.
Northwestern's two double-digit scorers in that game — Bryant McIntosh and Lindsey replacement Isiah Brown — missed a combined 20 shots from the field, while Vic Law was 0-for-7 from the field with just one point.
On defense, Northwestern couldn't stop Purdue from running out to an early lead. The Boilers shot better than 60 percent over the opening 20 minutes and hit nine first-half 3-pointers.
"We lose a little bit of length, of course," Collins said of how Lindsey's absence negatively impacts the team. "At 6-5, 6-6 with his length we could cover some areas of the court with his wingspan and his rebounding, his ability to dig down there and get some rebounds. ... Certainly his shooting is something that we've missed because of his ability to put it in the basket and stretch the defense.
Big Ten
"I think what it does, too, when a really good player is taken off the scouting report, the other guys on your team then move up the scouting report. All of a sudden, where Scottie's going to see the other team's best defender, now maybe they're going to put that guy on Vic. So we've got to find ways to get Vic some easier shots."
Northwestern's loss brought up some questions about whether the Cats can run with the rest of the Big Ten's big dogs. But there was plenty working against them in that game, Lindsey's absence being one of the most obvious after the fact that Purdue is pretty darn good and had a solid home-court advantage.
Tuesday's game against Illinois provides a much easier challenge for Northwestern, even with Lindsey out. After all, the Cats have weathered an injury to a starter already this season.
"We've had adversity with guys," Collins said. "We lost our big guy, Dererk Pardon, for eight games. We haven't had Aaron Falzon the whole year. He started for us last year.
"Losing Scottie is a big blow, he's a terrific player. But we also talked about, everybody in this league's going through that. Every team has injuries, every team has guys who are in and out. Scottie will be back, we know that. It's our goal now: We've got to play good basketball without him, we've got to find a way to continue to play 40 minutes out there and get a win without him being on the floor."
Some good news on the injury front: Collins expects Nathan Taphorn to play Tuesday night. He rolled his ankle in the win over Indiana and missed the second half of that game, as well as the game against Purdue. Taphorn has produced little during Big Ten play, but he can always provide a shooting spark off the bench.
"Taphorn has been doing some stuff in practice, so barring any setbacks, I think he'll be available tomorrow," Collins said. "I've been encouraged by his response to the ankle, and I think he'll be able to play tomorrow, which is certainly going to help us."