After a convincing neutral-site win over Georgia Tech last Sunday, Northwestern returned home for a Windy City clash against DePaul, and things got out of hand fast Saturday.
The visitors scored the first bucket of the game, but that would be about the only highlight for the Blue Demons (8-4, 0-2 Big East) through the game’s opening minutes. The Wildcats (9-3, 1-1 Big Ten) launched into a blistering 20-0 run, knocking down every single shot they took — 9-for-9 — to set the tone early. NU never slowed down and ultimately pulled away with an 84-64 victory
Junior forward Nick Martinelli got things rolling with the ’Cats’ first basket, and graduate student guard Ty Berry, who has still been searching for consistency this season, drained a three, and followed it up with a steal on the other end. Berry’s defensive play led to an alley-oop finish from graduate student center Matthew Nicholson, who slammed home his first of two dunks before the first media timeout.
NU’s defense suffocated DePaul early, forcing turnovers and turning them into easy points. The ‘Cats scored 15 points off 14 first half Blue Demon turnovers and recorded 10 steals in the opening turnovers.
Despite their early dominance, the ‘Cats began to cool off as the first half wore on. After making their first four three-point attempts, they missed their next five and shot just 7-of-23 from the field after their perfect start.
With an 18-point NU lead already on the board, DePaul managed to find some offensive rhythm and trimmed the deficit to 10 by halftime, but the damage had already been done.
The ‘Cats held onto their comfortable lead throughout the second half, though the Blue Demons stayed within fighting distance as they shrunk the lead from 19 to nine with four minutes left to play.
NU closed the game with solid defense to close out a victory that it commanded from the opening tip.
Here are three takeaways from NU’s win over DePaul.
1. Dominant 20-0 run sets the tone early
For the second straight game, NU set the tone early with a dominant double-digit scoring run. Slow starts have been a recurring issue for the ‘Cats so far this season, but in Saturday’s outing that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
After beginning to reap the benefits of a fast start against Georgia Tech last week, NU carried that lesson to their tilt with the Blue Demons. The ‘Cats immediately jumped out to a 20-2 lead to start the game, leaving DePaul with more questions than answers before they found any semblance of other rhythm.
In two of its three losses this season to Butler and Iowa, NU was plagued by sluggish starts when they trailed by double-digits in the first half and suffered from low shooting percentages in the first 20 minutes.
In Saturday’s win over DePaul the ‘Cats flipped the script. From the opening tip, Chris Collins’ squad dominated, maintaining a comfortable lead throughout — a stark contrast to the uphill battles they’ve been accustomed to this year.
2. Spreading the wealth
In many of its early-season games, NU has leaned heavily on Martinelli and senior guard Brooks Barnhizer to carry the scoring load when shots weren’t falling.
Before Saturday’s matchup, Martinelli was averaging 20.4 points per game with his teammate and captain, Barnhizer, close behind at 19.7. Aside from Leach’s increasingly reliable contributions, most other players only tack on a handful of points in a typical game.
Against DePaul, however, four Wildcats amassed double-digit outputs, with Nicholson and junior guard Justin Mullins, who have struggled to find form this season, combining for 22 points.
In addition to increased contributions from their teammates, Martinelli and Barnhizer each kept up their dominant caliber of play, pitching in 23 and 21 points, respectively.
Though he drained an early 3-pointer Berry remained largely quiet: a trend that has long defined his point. The graduate student is averaging just 7.3 points per game this season which is a significant drop from his 11.6 point average last year.
3. Mullins makes key contributions
Typically known more for his quiet defensive contributions than for stuffing the stat sheet, Mullins took on a greater role during NU’s Saturday victory. He hit two critical 3-pointers, which is a welcome sight to his previous struggles from beyond the arc. Prior to the ‘Cats’ win over DePaul, Mullins had made just 1-of-12 3-point attempts this season.
With an 8-0 second half DePaul run keeping the Blue Demons within relative, 10-point striking distance, Mullins connected with Nicholson twice in quick succession to help NU pull away with the commanding victory.
After averaging just 5.2 minutes per game last season, Mullins’ time on the court has increased dramatically. He’s been averaging 21.5 minutes per game.
If his offensive ascension continues, he could be the type of scoring contributor the ‘Cats’ need as they prepare for the thick of their Big Ten slate.
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Twitter: @AudreyPachuta
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