In its first game since coach Chris Collins publicly ruled out senior guard Brooks Barnhizer for the season with a foot injury, Northwestern rode a flurry of offensive rebounds to a 77-75 victory over USC.
Up 74-71 with 35 seconds left to play, graduate student center Matthew Nicholson’s first foul shot rimmed out — upon making the second, the Trojans (13-9, 5-6 Big Ten) took the ball the length of the court. When USC guard Clark Slajchert drained a 3-pointer and junior guard Blake Smith fouled, the score was evened at 75 a piece.
But a game-saving floater by junior forward Nick Martinelli with 2.4 seconds left sealed the Wildcats’ (13-10, 4-8 Big Ten) win, snapping their three-game losing skid and evading what would’ve been their first four-game losing streak since January 2022.
Martinelli led the way for NU with 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to secure his fourth double-double of the season.
Here are three takeaways from NU’s victory over the Trojans:
1. ’Cats Embody Barnhizer’s Grit
Without its second-leading scorer and defensive anchor, NU exhibited the same toughness Barnhizer showed throughout his collegiate career.
That determination was exemplified best by its offensive rebounding prowess.
With just under 12 minutes remaining in the first half, NU hauled in six offensive boards during a single possession, ultimately earning Martinelli a trip to the charity stripe. The hustle on that play embodied Barnhizer’s grit, just as Collins had called for in the emotional press conference he gave announcing the team captain’s prognosis.
“Our guys are gonna battle their tails off to honor him,” Collins said after the team’s Saturday loss to No. 17 Wisconsin.
The ’Cats continued to crash the glass throughout the night, finishing with a season-high 23 offensive rebounds and converting them into 24 second-chance points.
Those opportunities led the ’Cats to victory despite shooting a dismal 41% from the field, compared to USC’s 51%.
Martinelli grabbed 10 of those offensive rebounds, far eclipsing his career-high of five offensive boards and recording the second most in NU history.
2. Mullins Steps Up
Barnhizer’s absence left a major minutes hole to fill for Collins, with the Lafayette, Indiana native averaging 36.8 minutes per game — the eighth most in Division 1 basketball — before his season was cut short.
While freshman guard Angelo Ciaravino started his seventh consecutive game, it was junior guard Justin Mullins who capitalized most on the opportunity.
After transfering from Denver ahead of his sophomore season, Mullins saw action in 13 games last season.
In Tuesday’s tilt with USC, Mullins entered the game after less than two minutes of game time, and played 37 minutes — his most ever for NU.
Mullins finished with his highest scoring output in purple and white digs, recording 14 points in addition to seven rebounds.
The 6-foot-6 guard opened the scoring for NU by knocking down a three, his sixth make from distance this season on his 26th attempt. He would go on to splash four of his five shots from beyond the arc, having never previously hit three — let alone four — triples during a single game in his NU career.
Ciaravino, by contrast, played only four minutes after a rocky start to the game which included two turnovers in the opening minutes.
Against Wisconsin, Mullins committed a costly technical foul in the first half which allowed the Badgers to make up a 5-point deficit on one possession and relegated him to the bench for the remaining seven minutes of the half.
Mullins played 25 minutes regardless, and his role was cemented Tuesday with an all-action performance.
3. Signs of Life
After Saturday’s loss to Wisconsin, Nicholson sounded more upbeat about the team’s prospects than the ’Cats’ 3-8 conference record might have suggested.
“If we play like that, we’ll win a lot of the rest of the games that we have this year,” Nicholson said. “You can’t count us out yet.”
On Tuesday, NU took a first step toward fulfilling Nicholson’s prophecy with a last-gasp victory, ensuring it didn’t come away from a three-game homestand empty-handed.
The ’Cats next head on the road to make their first Big Ten west coast trip in program history to face Washington (11-10, 2-8 Big Ten) and Oregon (16-6, 5-6 Big Ten).
The matchup against the Big Ten basement-dwelling Huskies on Saturday provides a significant opportunity for Collins’ squad to pick up its first road win of the season, with NU currently 0-6 in true road matchups.
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