Ahead of Northwestern’s Sunday morning clash with No. 16 Michigan State, coach Chris Collins joked at a Friday press conference that he had burned the film from his team’s most recent loss to No. 20 Purdue and was eager to see his group bounce back from what he called a “disappointing day.”
But with 2:57 left in the first half Sunday and the Spartans (14-2, 5-0 Big Ten) up by 22, it became clear that another lopsided loss was in the cards for the Wildcats (10-6, 1-4 Big Ten). Collins’ hopes for improvement in NU’s week off after falling to Penn State and Purdue seemed increasingly out of reach.
By the final buzzer, the visitors had handed the ’Cats a 78-68 loss — their first double-digit defeat at home since NU fell to Michigan in February 2023.
“I’m just not pleased with the breakdowns we’re having in the games,” Collins said after the loss. “Our guys are doing a great job in practice, but it doesn’t matter if you’re not carrying that over for 40 minutes of the game.”
After being held to a scoreless first half against Purdue last week, junior forward Nick Martinelli came out firing from the opening tip against Michigan State Sunday, scoring NU’s first six points on his signature floater on his way to a team-high of 27 points.
Following Martinelli’s first three field goals, a dunk by graduate student center Matthew Nicholson and back-to-back buckets for graduate student guard Jalen Leach, the ’Cats found themselves up by five after five minutes of game time.
Less than two minutes later, the Spartans unleashed a lethal 27-5 run that included a nearly five-minute scoring drought for NU. By then, Michigan State was up 43-21 and the ’Cats’ early momentum had evaporated.
By the end of the half, NU had trimmed the deficit to 19 but was eviscerated on both ends of the court by a dominant Spartan squad that was shooting 62.1% from the field, compared to the hosts’ 32.3%.
At the break, the Spartan bench had already racked up 24 points, while Collins’s entire team had only managed 28 — 13 of which were from Martinelli. Senior guard Brooks Barnhizer, who averages 19.3 points per game, was held scoreless in the first 20 minutes.
Graduate student guard Ty Berry opened the second half by scoring for the ’Cats on a breakaway layup — his only points of the game in 16 minutes of play. When NU beat the Spartans at home just more than a year ago, Berry led the team with 22 points, but as Berry has struggled to produce any sort of significant output in recent contests, he’s taken a reduced role. In the team’s last three losses, Berry has played less than 20 minutes a game and has scored just five points.
Barnhizer scored his first points with 13:56 left to play. He finished the game with just four points — his lowest scoring total since NU lost to UCLA in the second round of March Madness during his sophomore season.
While NU was never able to threaten a serious comeback, it was able to shrink what had been a 22-point deficit into single digits by the game’s final minutes.
The ’Cats forced eight Spartan turnovers in the second half, compared to just three in the first. Leach had 10 second-half points and Martinelli added 14. No one else had more than five.
“It’s just about getting stops,” Leach said postgame. “That’s the only reason why we got back in the game, to be honest with you, we just got stops and we were more aggressive.”
With 4:18 remaining, Nicholson exited the game with an injury and graduate student center Keenan Fitzmorris played the game’s final minutes. Fitzmorris had already seen a season-high minutes Sunday as the ’Cats were without redshirt sophomore forward Luke Hunger, who also missed the game with a foot injury.
Following three consecutive losses, Collins’s squad will look to regroup ahead of its next home game against Maryland Thursday.
“There are still 15 games to go, but it starts with finding a way to win on Thursday night,” Collins said.
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