CHICAGO — While No. 15-seeded Northwestern won’t be playing in the NCAA Tournament this season, barring an improbable run, coach Chris Collins told his team to treat its Big Ten Tournament game against No. 10-seeded Indiana like the Big Dance anyway.
His young squad, which had flubbed to a 2-13 conference start this year, in part because of a lack of rebounding and physicality, needed the experience against an urgent March Madness bubble team.
Collins always knew his guys had more to give.
“We’ve always felt like we were better than what our record indicated,” Collins said.
That crop of players followed the example of senior forward Nick Martinelli, who combined with freshman guard Jake West for 46 points, as the Wildcats (15-18, 5-15 Big Ten) compiled an upset 74-61 victory over the Hoosiers (18-14, 9-11 Big Ten) on Wednesday.
It was a bit of a coming of age, Collins said.
As NU cut an early nine-point Indiana advantage to one point at the break, West fearlessly attacked the rim and selected smart times to opt for 3-pointers as he supplied 14 points in the first half.
From there, Martinelli took over as he scored 13 of the ’Cats’ first 17 second-half points to flip the one-point deficit to a nine-point advantage in a little over 12 minutes.
The ’Cats led by as many as 18 points in the second half, as Martinelli finished with 28 points, four rebounds and three assists, and West tallied 18 points, four assists and three rebounds.
In the second half, freshman forwards Tre Singleton and Tyler Kropp and sophomore guard Angelo Ciaravino added influential minutes as NU held Indiana to 24 points on 25% shooting.
While the ’Cats had only led for 25 seconds in the first half, they didn’t trail after they took a 38-37 lead at the 19:04 mark.
Collins said he sees similarities between his current squad and the 2015 NU team, which finished the season winning five of its final seven regular-season games despite starting conference play 1-10. That mid-2010’s roster never let up despite the poor start and was rewarded with 20 and 24-win seasons the following two years, culminating in a program-first NCAA Tournament berth.
“There’s no quit in this group,” Collins said. “They kept coming to practice every day. We kept preparing.”
With over 13 minutes remaining, West took a hard foul as he went for a fastbreak layup, crashing into the padding. Despite appearing somewhat shaken, he still clapped his way into the ensuing huddle before knocking down both flagrant free throws.
West said he feels like he’s been playing with a lot of confidence, crediting Collins for his belief and his own work ethic.
“For this guy right here to my right,” Collins said, pointing to West, “to come of age as a freshman in this venue, against a team of the quality of Indiana, (I am) just so proud of him.”
Despite NU already having played two contests in two days after beating No. 18-seeded Penn State on Tuesday, it will return to the court for another quick turnaround Thursday against No. 7-seeded Purdue.
Purdue defeated the ’Cats 70-66 just last week despite NU holding an 11-point lead in its final home contest this season.
“I don’t even know how we’re going to be able to sleep tonight,” Martinelli said, “We’re so excited to get to play again.”
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