After graduate student center Matthew Nicholson boxed out a Hawkeye defender to corral a rebound from Iowa’s fruitless opening possession Friday, sophomore guard Jordan Clayton pushed the ball up the court. Nine passes later, it found its way into the hands of junior forward Nick Martinelli on his way to the rim.
He made no hesitation, calmly converting a rare right-handed layup — an outlier in his usual repertoire of left-handed maneuvers that have long stymied opposing defenses. But that, coupled with a pair of free throws, was all Martinelli contributed in the first half: four points and a field goal.
In its 68-57 win over Iowa Friday night, Northwestern’s defense took center stage in place of its usual star, stifling the second-highest scoring offense in the Big Ten.
The Wildcats (16-13, 7-11 Big Ten) held the Hawkeyes (15-14, 6-12 Big Ten) to a season-low point total and field goal percentage, relying not only on scoring production from emerging talent but also key defensive contributions from their veterans.
“I’ve been proud of a lot of teams for a lot of different reasons, but (I’m) not sure I’ve been more proud of an individual team than I am about this one right now,” coach Chris Collins said postgame, reflecting on his injury-riddled squad’s ability to overcome adversity this season.
Following slow starts for both teams, which saw the game knotted at four points apiece after more than four minutes of play, a second-chance layup tipped in by freshman guard K.J. Windham sparked a 10-0 NU scoring run.
Windham, who averaged just over 10 minutes per game in Big Ten play before the team’s West Coast road trip in early February, has stepped up after graduate student guard Jalen Leach sustained a season-ending injury in the team’s Feb. 4 win over USC. With Leach absent, Windham has emerged as a potent scoring threat over the past six games, posting three 15-plus point outputs — including a team-high 20 points against Iowa Friday.
Collins said that, beyond Windham’s scoring, he’s been impressed by the freshman’s adjustment to an expanded role.
“I really just talked to him about these last eight games, after we had our injuries and I knew he was going to be playing a lot, was just, ‘Try to be more free of mind,’ knowing there’s going to be mistakes made,” Collins said.
In addition to Windham’s output, junior guard Justin Mullins chimed in with 10 points Friday — his third double-digit scoring night of the season.
But for the contest’s opening 20 minutes, NU’s dominant defense defined the game’s trajectory.
As Nicholson and Martinelli combined for 11 of the ’Cats’ 20 first-half rebounds and Nicholson rejected three Hawkeye shot attempts, the focal point became containing Iowa as NU’s offense began to find its rhythm.
“I thought Matt was the unsung hero of the first 25 minutes,” Collins said. “His ability to help on all those back cuts, all those things at the rim. He had some blocked shots, he was protecting our basket, he had six rebounds.”
But when Nicholson went down after taking an inadvertent palm to the face by Iowa guard Josh Dix with over 17 minutes left to play, it was clear that NU’s other big men — graduate student center Keenan Fitzmorris and redshirt sophomore forward Luke Hunger — would need to step up in his stead.
Fitzmorris wasted no time making his presence felt. Less than a minute into his entry, after a quick pass from Mullins, Fitzmorris found himself with two Hawkeye defenders swatting at the air in futile pursuit. The graduate student center soared through the lane for a thunderous dunk as the Welsh-Ryan Arena crowd erupted.
The Hawkeyes cut the deficit back to one point after a triple on their ensuing possession, but from then on, NU trucked on to a comfortable lead in which it amassed a double-digit advantage in the final minutes.
Though Martinelli fell short of his typical Big Ten-leading scoring output of 20.1 points per game, he led the ’Cats’ with 12 points in the second half as the hosts closed out their third consecutive win.
“It’s always good to have a 30-point game, but I’d rather have zero-point games and win every single game, so I was just happy to see guys like K.J. and Justin step up,” Martinelli said.
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