With just over 10 minutes to go in the first half in Northwestern’s matchup with Wisconsin Saturday, freshman guard Angelo Ciaravino deflected a pass that rolled into the Badgers’ backcourt. He chased it down, dove for the ball and found junior forward Nick Martinelli, who got fouled on his way to the basket.
On the next Wisconsin (17-5, 7-4 Big Ten) possession, Martinelli came up with a steal before junior guard Justin Mullins followed with one of his own.
Seated on the bench, dressed in a polo shirt: senior guard Brooks Barnhizer, who will miss the rest of the season with a foot injury, coach Chris Collins announced postgame. Rallying around a shifted rotation, the Wildcats (12-10, 3-8 Big Ten) came up short Saturday as they dropped their third straight game, falling to the Badgers 75-69.
“(It’s) just been a heavy 36 hours for our team,” Collins said of entering battle without one of his veteran leaders. “For us to come out and play the way we did shows a lot about the kind of guys we have.”
As Wisconsin’s high-octane offense loomed large, NU’s defense set the tone early Saturday. The ’Cats held the Badgers scoreless until the 16:17 mark, jumping out to an 8-0 lead in the process.
Graduate student guard Jalen Leach recorded the hosts’ first five points, drilling a three-pointer to open the scoring and following up with a jumper a minute later.
On the next possession, Leach pulled up from the top of the key, but his shot bounced off the rim and came right back to him. He quickly kicked it to graduate student guard Ty Berry in the corner, who drained a step-back three to extend the NU lead.
Both teams went cold midway through the first half. At the media timeout, Wisconsin was shooting just 13% from the field, while NU was at 27%.
The teams traded three-pointers with about seven minutes left in the half, but a technical foul on Mullins for jawing with the Wisconsin bench allowed the Badgers to trim a 15-10 NU lead down to a single possession.
The lead flipped back and forth, but back-to-back threes from Berry, along with one each from Martinelli and Leach, helped the ’Cats go into halftime with a 31-25 lead.
Leach had eight points and four assists in the first 20 minutes, finishing with a team-high 23 points. He’s been on a scoring tear recently, averaging 19.4 points per game in NU’s last five contests –– a stretch that started after his ejection for a Flagrant 2 foul in a Jan. 19 loss to No. 20 Michigan.
“Jalen Leach keeps getting better and better,” Collins said postgame. “With each game, his confidence is really high, his decision making.”
Despite forcing nine turnovers in the first half, NU’s defense struggled to contain Wisconsin after the break. The Badgers erupted for 50 second-half points, with three players scoring in double-digit figures, including forward Carter Gilmore, who posted a season-high 15 points in just 24 minutes off the bench.
Wisconsin’s hot shooting continued as it drilled eight three-pointers in the second half, compared to four from NU, building a game-high 11-point lead with just under five minutes remaining.
Graduate student center Matthew Nicholson, held scoreless in the first half, scored 10 points after the break, keeping NU within striking distance. Ahead of Saturday’s loss, Nicholson had reached double-digit scoring just two other times this season.
With Barnhizer sidelined, Collins said finding additional contributions beyond Martinelli, Leach and Berry will be crucial as the ’Cats look to finish the season strong.
“As we get to practice tomorrow and we get ready for this last four to six weeks of our season and these last nine games, we’ll tailor things to make sure that we’re doing things to compliment the guys we have out on the floor,” Collins said.
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