Northwestern has never started a calendar year with a win with coach Chris Collins at the helm.
With a four-game win streak in tow, the Wildcats (10-4, 1-2 Big Ten) traveled to Happy Valley looking to ring in 2025 with an elusive Big Ten road win.
In a choppy seesaw game plagued by early foul trouble and turnovers for both squads, the ‘Cats fell to the Nittany Lions (12-2, 2-1 Big Ten) 84-80.
Foul trouble plagued Collins’s squad throughout the contest, racking up 30 personals and allowing their opponents to score 34 points from the charity stripe on 45 attempts.
“I don’t know how you’re going to win a Big Ten game, let alone on the road, by putting a team on the line 45 times,” Collins said postgame.
NU had early chances to take control, as graduate student guard Ty Berry was given three clean looks from beyond the arc but couldn’t connect in the game’s opening minutes. The Nittany Lions (11-2, 1-1 Big Ten), meanwhile, started the game on an 8-0 run, turning two NU turnovers into five points before the first media timeout.
Freshman guard KJ Windham saw significant early minutes, a jump from his limited playing time (just two and three minutes) in the previous games against DePaul and Northeastern.
NU ran into early foul trouble, accumulating seven fouls and putting Penn State in the bonus with 12:40 remaining in the first half. With both Berry and graduate student guard Jalen Leach each picking up two fouls, freshman guard Angelo Ciaravino entered the game in their place as Collins looked to manage the situation.
The ‘Cats slowly regained their ground from what had been an eight-point deficit and an open-three made by junior guard Brooks Barnhizer made it 12-11 Penn State, before graduate student center Matt Nicholson sunk two foul shots to give NU its first lead of the game.
From there, the ‘Cats were able to extend their lead to five at the under-eight timeout after Windham made a three-point bucket of his own and junior guard Justin Mullins followed up with a driving layup off a turnover.
By the end of the first half, NU had eight different scorers, with no player registering more than Ciaravino’s eight points.
Still, the ‘Cats trailed by three at the break.
The second half saw an abundance of lead changes, as NU continued to play steadily despite serious foul trouble.
After the Nittany Lions initially built their lead to six in the second half’s opening minutes, an and-one layup by Mullins tied it up at 45 and neither team led by more than 3 until Penn State took over 79-75 with 3:05 left to play.
With 6.7 seconds remaining, the ‘Cats trailed 82-80 when a goaltend was called against their opponents on the floor, but the call was waved off. Barnhizer fouled to give NU one final chance, but after two Nittany Lion foul shots, the ‘Cats ultimately lost the topsy-turvy affair.
Here are three takeaways from NU’s loss at Penn State Thursday.
1. Fouls galore
Foul trouble, foul trouble, foul trouble.
With over 15 minutes left to play, two NU players already had four fouls, and three others were sitting on three.
The ‘Cats struggled to stay out of foul trouble from the get-go, sending Penn State into the bonus before the first half’s under-12 media timeout.
“They put pressure on the officials to call fouls, but I think we do too,” Collins said.
With his rotation thinning, Collins turned to freshmen Windham and Ciaravino to step up early. Having played just four and three minutes, respectively, in December, the pair was thrust into the game to help keep things close after Leach and Berry picked up early fouls.
“We just gotta be smarter,” Collins said. “You know, there’s a way to play physical without fouling as much as we did.”
NU had a tough time from beyond the arc, shooting just 4-of-15 in the first half, but the freshmen provided a bright spot, contributing three of those four makes.
Windham and Ciaravino combined for 16 points in NU’s loss to the Nittany Lions.
2. Struggles to break the press
In last Saturday’s win over Northeastern, Jalen Leach got off to a rough start, committing two turnovers near midcourt in the game’s opening minutes. While those early miscues didn’t have much impact on the outcome, they highlighted an ongoing issue for the ‘Cats: breaking the press.
With no clear primary ball handler on the roster, Leach, along with Barnhizer and Martinelli, have shared point guard duties throughout the season. But facing off against Penn State’s reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Ace Baldwin Jr. — a ball-hawking presence averaging 2.1 steals per game— the ‘Cats knew they couldn’t afford to take things lightly.
Baldwin, paired with a deep rotation of Nittany Lion defenders known for their full-court pressure, made ball security one of the keys to success if Collins’s group wanted to leave Happy Valley with a win.
Entering Thursday’s contest, NU averaged just 8.9 turnovers per game — good for best in the Big Ten. But against a dominant Penn State defense, the ‘Cats succumbed to the pressure early on, accumulating 9 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
NU tightened up ball security in the second half, but still granted its opponents 18 points off 16 total turnovers.
After the game, Collins said he wasn’t concerned by how his group performs against the press.
“Did we have some silly turnovers? Yes,” Collins said. “But we also turned them over 17 times, so I think that’s a little overblown.”
3. Barnhizer and Martinelli stay clutch
After cutting an eight-point deficit to four with 12:12 left in the first half, NU was still searching for a spark to kickstart an offense that had sputtered early on missed opportunities.
Though their first-half contributions might not stand out on a stat sheet, Martinelli and Barnhizer connected to help power NU to its first lead of the game. Trapped in the corner by Penn State’s sweltering defense, Martinelli quickly found Barnhizer with a behind-the-back pass at the top of the arc. Barnhizer drilled the three, making it a one-point game and shifting the momentum in NU’s favor.
Entering Thursday’s game, Barnhizer and Martinelli were the only teammates in Division I basketball averaging over 20 points per game. Before facing Penn State, Barnhizer led the Big Ten in steals (2.7), ranked second in rebounds (9.4), and third in points per game (20.1). With six straight double-doubles, he held the longest active streak in the country. In Thursday’s loss, Barnhizer extended this streak to seven, with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Against the Nittany Lions, NU’s dynamic scoring duo stayed clutch, combining for 38 points and leading a rotated squad battling foul trouble.
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Twitter: @AudreyPachuta
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