No matter how Northwestern defended him, whether tightly contested or giving him some space, nothing seemed to faze Rutgers forward Ace Bailey Wednesday night.
The NBA Draft prospect almost single-handedly picked apart the Wildcats (12-9, 3-7 Big Ten), scoring 37 points — 24 of which came in the first half — to hand NU a 79-72 loss.
His offensive onslaught — including five made three-pointers and 13-of-20 shooting — helped propel the Scarlet Knights (11-10, 4-6 Big Ten) over the hosts for NU’s second defeat on its home court this season.
The rare home defeat was NU’s third in its last two seasons of Big Ten Play at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Bailey put together the dominant performance without his right-hand man and fellow NBA hopeful Dylan Harper, who missed Wednesday’s contest with an ankle injury.
“Bailey is one of the better talents in the conference, and once he gets going, he is hard to stop,” coach Chris Collins said.
NU got off to a strong start offensively, establishing a 13-4 lead before Bailey made his first bucket from the floor. The Chattanooga, Tennessee native made five baskets over four minutes to cut the ’Cats’ nine-point advantage to one.
Bailey closed the first half with eight consecutive points — two triples and two free throws — to put the Scarlet Knights up 43-35 at the break.
Collins said he wanted to force Bailey to put the ball on the floor. Instead, the star forward utilized jabs to reach his desired spots before knocking down threes.
“I can live with losing, but I just didn’t love our energy, fight and defensive intensity in the first half,” Collins said. “That was really the story of the game.”
While Bailey cooled off in the second half, the damage had already been done. He hit key shots down the stretch, including a dunk off an alley-oop that helped silence the home crowd and kept the ’Cats far out of reach.
Graduate student guard Ty Berry — whose ‘Western’ bobblehead was given to the first 500 fans at the stadium — injected life into Welsh-Ryan Arena late in the contest by cutting a once-15-point Rutgers lead to nine with a three-pointer. But Bailey responded by swishing a hook shot between two NU defenders to help seal the deal.
Throughout the contest, junior forward Nick Martinelli and graduate student guard Jalen Leach kept the ‘Cats close, but their efforts fell short.
Leach logged a team-high 23 points and four assists, responding to Bailey’s scoring with back-to-back buckets late in the first half, including a contested mid-range bucket off the dribble. He complimented Bailey’s size and talent postgame, saying he can “shoot over pretty much anybody.”
“I felt like we made [Bailey] take a lot of tough shots, and that’s what he did,” Leach said.
Martinelli notched 16 points and 10 rebounds, highlighted by back-to-back layups around the 15-minute mark in the first half. While he shot 5-for-16 from the floor, he still recorded a double-double and NU’s second-highest scoring output.
“Shots haven’t really been falling as of late,” Martinelli said. “But I really just care about winning at the end of the day.”
Following two straight losses, the ’Cats will look to bounce back against No. 17 Wisconsin at home Saturday afternoon.
Email: kamrannia2027@u.northwestern.edu
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