• K.J. Windham delivered a spark with three three-pointers despite being the eighth player in the rotation.
• Nick Martinelli appeared his usual self on a 17-point night, but took a backseat in the second half.
• Northwestern continued its optimistic exhibition play into the regular season, but it needs to shake off slow starts.

It took over six minutes for sophomore guard K.J. Windham to be brought off the bench Monday evening.

Yet, after being Northwestern’s eighth player to check in, he was the spark for the Wildcats (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten), who displayed their willingness to ride the hot hand in their 70-47 win over the Lakers (0-1, 0-0 NEC) Monday evening. 

After a somewhat sluggish first half, taking an 11-point lead into the break, Windham sank a three-pointer before making a leaping steal and converting another triple on the other end to open a 48-29 lead.

His influence was rewarded with 21 total minutes as he dropped in 11 points — nine of which came on three pointers — and logged seven rebounds. 

Windham’s contributions, combined with the typical impact of senior forward Nick Martinelli, who looked his usual self after leading the Big Ten in scoring last season, helped the ’Cats secure a blowout victory on a night they entered as 25.5-point favorites. 

“His ability to shoot the ball can break games open,” said coach Chris Collins of Windham postgame. “He’s always ready. I’ve kind of asked him right now to be that energy guy off the bench. And, he played starter’s minutes.” 

Martinelli steered NU to an early double-digit lead by scoring nine of its first 16 points and 15 first-half points on his 17-point night. 

But as Mercyhurst chipped away at Northwestern’s 10-point first-half lead Monday evening, closing the gap to five points, Windham stepped up by splashing a closely contested three-pointer and making a transition layup in just over the final three minutes of the half. Soon after, Martinelli dropped in a spinning bucket to take the team’s largest lead of the game into halftime.

Collins said before the season that he expects Martinelli to deliver most nights, but the following contributions might rely on hot hands in the deep rotation that includes many of the team’s eight newcomers. 

NU made 26 lineup changes as nine players played double-digit minutes. 

Junior transfer Arrinten Page, who averaged around 10 minutes at his previous stops, Cincinnati and USC, was an inefficient 4-of-10 from the field, but he scored a team-leading 18 points thanks to six trips to the charity stripe. He also added 12 rebounds, six of which came on the offensive glass in his 23 minutes. 

As the only center expected to play a meaningful role, the ’Cats regularly turned to small-ball lineups without Page on the floor. Page said that Collins’ belief in his talents — and the rest of the team — is the most significant difference between NU and his former teams.

“We need size around the basket for altering shots and defensive rebounding,” Collins said of Page. “We need his presence out there.”

In the second half, Martinelli took a backseat to the newcomers as he added just two points while the ’Cats held a comfortable lead. 

Freshman guard Jake West, a three-star recruit from Philadelphia, chipped in with defensive prowess, but looked to be a work in progress on the offensive end. This trait was evident from his first moments, when he stayed in front of a Mercyhurst guard before forcing a pass out to a late shot-clock miss. But offensively, on his first touch, he tried to find a cutting Martinelli, only to turn the ball over.

While the early results have been optimistic for a revamped NU squad, the slow start followed a similar trajectory to the Illinois State game, which the ’Cats only led by seven points at the break before winning by 35 points. 

Collins pointed to how the ’Cats attempted too many “home run plays,” leading to 12 turnovers. 

“We’re obviously a work in progress,” Collins said. “We did a lot of good things, and there were some things we got to really clean up.”

On Monday, NU was without sophomore Guard Angelo Ciaravino, who scored 11 points as a starter against Illinois State, who was ruled out on the pregame injury report. Junior guard Jordan Clayton replaced him in the starting lineup, but failed to score on four attempts.

Collins said Ciaravino’s absence affected the team’s rotations, but that the team had players who stepped up. He added that he hopes the Chicago native could return as soon as Friday after missing Monday’s contests following a hard fall during the team’s final exhibition match. 

“(Ciaravino’s) getting better every day,” Collins said. “He’s moving a lot today. Got a workout in. I just wanted to err on the side of caution with him.”

The ’Cats will return to the court again against Boston University on Friday. 

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