Northwestern’s matchup with Rutgers Wednesday was poised to be a clash between the Big Ten’s two most prolific scoring duos.
While both the Wildcats (12-9, 3-7 Big Ten) and the Scarlet Knights (11-10, 4-6 Big Ten) have struggled through sub-.500 conference slates this season, they remain the only two teams to have two players each amongst the top-10 scorers in the Big Ten.
For the ’Cats, junior forward Nick Martinelli and senior guard Brooks Barnhizer have paced the offense all season, each averaging more than 17 points per game ahead of Wednesday’s tilt. Meanwhile, 800 miles to the east, Rutgers has built its resurgence around a freshman duo that has regularly torched defenses, with both Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper posting multiple individual 30-plus point performances this year.
But just hours before tip-off, the Big Ten injury report revealed that the visitors would be without half of its dynamic scoring pair when Harper was ruled out with an ankle injury.
In his stead, Bailey dominated, raining down 37 points to derail NU’s hopes of a bounceback victory at home as it fell 79-72.
In the loss, Barnhizer and Martinelli combined for 26 points — just two points more than Bailey had in the first half alone.
“I’m at a little bit of a loss for words, because I can live with losing, but I just didn’t love our energy and fight,” coach Chris Collins said postgame.
The ’Cats got off to a strong start Wednesday, building a nine-point lead in the opening five minutes as Rutgers failed to convert on a few early scoring chances and went 1-for-4 in its first two trips to the foul line.
Martinelli’s first two shots of the night rimmed out, but a layup by freshman guard Angelo Ciaravino and five quick points by graduate student guard Jalen Leach helped the ’Cats gain a quick advantage before the Scarlet Knights could work out the kinks.
“The past couple games we’ve had some really, really slow starts,” Leach said. “We just wanted to be aggressive and set a defensive tone early, and I feel like that’s what we did, but we were consistent enough throughout the whole game.”
But once Bailey heated up, NU couldn’t stop him. He missed just one shot from the floor in the first half and knocked down four triples before the break. By then, Rutgers led 43-35.
Both Leach and Martinelli had ten first-half points to help keep the ’Cats in the game.
In moments of success this season, both players and Collins have pointed to their ability to feed off each other’s energy. Recently, with Leach shouldering more of the ball-handling duties, he and Martinelli have developed a dependable pick-and-roll connection, providing a crucial offensive outlet when other shots aren’t falling.
“I just feel like we’ve built up a lot of chemistry,” Leach said. “Especially early in the year when Brooks was out (with a foot injury).”
For the ’Cats, stacking production across its leading scorers has been crucial. In its 10 Big Ten games so far this season, NU’s top three scorers — Martinelli, Barnhizer and Leach —- have only played six halves in which they’ve all recorded five or more points. Two of its three conference victories have come in games where the trio was able to match each other’s output, and its third win came when graduate student guard Ty Berry contributed a double-digit first half against Maryland, picking up the slack during a quiet night for Leach.
Both Barnhizer and Leach typically find their rhythm after halftime. They’ve each scored just 47 total points in the first half of Big Ten games. Despite averaging 17.1 points per game this season, Barnhizer has been especially quiet in the opening 20 minutes, recording five or fewer points in seven of 10 conference matchups.
But against Rutgers Wednesday, Barnhizer couldn’t pick up the pace after the break, recording just five points in both the first and second halves.
Though NU ultimately outscored its opponents in the second period, its chances of winning were crippled by a more than five-minute scoring drought that helped Rutgers amass a double-digit lead. With 6:27 left to play, the ’Cats trailed by a game-high 15.
“I thought we had some misfortune on a couple shots we normally make during that stretch,” Collins said. “When you’re doing that, you gotta get to the free throw line or find a way to get a layup or an offensive rebound. And we weren’t able to do that.”
Collins’ group made a few late shots to close the game, but never shrunk the deficit to any less than seven points.
Following the loss, the ’Cats will look to regroup as they prepare to take on No. 17 Wisconsin Saturday in front of a sold-out Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Email: audreypachuta2027@u.northwestern.edu
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