Coming into their matchup on Friday night, Northwestern and DePaul were trending in near-opposite directions.
The Wildcats (4-0, 0-0 Big Ten) came off a 110-63 thrashing of Cleveland State, their highest offensive output since 2020. On the other side, the Blue Demons (2-2, 0-0 Big East) had just fallen to Buffalo 66-53 as big home favorites.
All signs pointed toward a convincing win for NU, even on the road at Wintrust Arena. But with DePaul looking to get revenge on its Chicago rivals after three straight losses, the game was a back-and-forth battle with 17 lead changes.
Though the ’Cats came away with an 81-79 win, the Blue Demons outplayed them in a number of areas, something coach Chris Collins was the first to admit.
“They were the tougher team for most of the night,” Collins said. “I knew what we were going to face and tried to urge our guys to be ready for that physical fight that they brought to us.”
A game of second chances
With just under two minutes remaining in the first half, DePaul guard Kruz McClure stood at the free-throw line. He missed his second shot, but his teammate, NJ Benson, grabbed an offensive rebound, and Benson headed to the line after being fouled.
An identical sequence followed, with Benson missing his second try and the Blue Demons controlling another board. After another foul, McClure returned to the charity stripe and drained both attempts.
This was one of four possessions during which DePaul grabbed multiple offensive boards. It recorded 16 throughout the contest and tallied 20 second-chance points.
“We gotta do a better job blocking out,” Collins said. “They were wedging us under the basket, they were attacking the basket with force.”
NU grabbed 18 defensive rebounds, 10 of which came from sophomore guard Angelo Ciaravino and freshman forward Tre Singleton.
Junior center Arrinten Page tallied just three defensive and five total boards. The team’s primary big man took accountability for the rebounding struggles.
“That’s on me, I just gotta play a little bit harder,” Page said. “(Collins) was getting on us about that in the huddle.”
The ’Cats showed signs of improvement in the second half, allowing only six offensive rebounds and four second-chance points.
Throughout its first four games, the shots have been falling for NU, but in order to avoid close calls like it saw at DePaul, it will have to limit mulligans for other teams.
Foul frenzy
There was only one sound more ubiquitous than the boisterous fans of Wintrust Arena: the whistle.
Nearly all contact seemed to be too much for the referees, and the ’Cats and the Blue Demons combined for 48 fouls throughout the night.
In the first half alone, NU committed 14 fouls, with its bonus-triggering seventh foul occurring with over eight minutes remaining. DePaul capitalized, earning 20 attempts at the free-throw line in the half and draining 17 of them.
Page acknowledged that the referees were calling a pretty tight game, but said he didn’t put much stock in something that varies game by game.
“I think (the foul calling) didn’t really matter on the outcome of the game, we just gotta be able to adjust,” Page said. “(Collins) probably did love our aggressiveness.”
Just as NU did with its rebounding, the squad seemed more conscious of its fouling in the second half. The ’Cats went over six minutes without committing a foul early in the half and fouled just twice in the final seven minutes of the game.
When the game reached crunch time, four of the ’Cats’ starters were in foul trouble, and everyone besides Ciaravino finished with four fouls.
Collins prided his players on their ability to play through foul trouble.
“I thought Tre Singleton, at the end of the game, really made some plays that started to show who he could be,” Collins said. “He’s been in a lot of foul trouble, and he’s trying to find his way.”
He also acknowledged bench players like freshman guard Jake West, who had to “steady the team” when he replaced foul-burdened junior guard Jayden Reid in crunch time.
Building consistency as competition stiffens
Following a week off, NU will next take its four-game win streak to the Greenbrier Tip-Off where it faces Virginia. The Cavaliers (4-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) have drawn at least 19 fouls in each game this season and are averaging 17 offensive rebounds per game.
The ’Cats have not faced as prolific an opponent as Virginia to date and will look to bounce back from their performance on the boards and in the foul column.
The matchup takes place Friday at 4 p.m. in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
“We’re in a real tough stretch of games right now, but the positive thing is finding a way to win,” Collins said. “You don’t want to have to learn the tough lessons by losing a game, especially coming on the road.”
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— Men’s Basketball: Green bursts out from the cold with 3-point flurry in win over Cleveland State
— Men’s Basketball: Page’s transcendent form persists as Northwestern mauls Cleveland State 110-63
