Despite some second-half surges, Northwestern men’s basketball (8-9, 0-6 B1G) fell 79-68 to No. 13 Illinois (14-3, 5-1 B1G) Wednesday evening at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
It was a disappointing loss for the ‘Cats — their first to Illinois at home in four games — but it also showed a couple of bright spots. Jayden Reid led the way for Northwestern with a career-best 28 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field, including a 4-of-6 mark from three. Nick Martinelli tacked on 20 points for the ‘Cats, who managed
to limit themselves to seven turnovers (although they only forced eight).
For the Fighting Illini, Keaton Wagler and Tomislav Ivisic headed the charge with 22 and 21 points, respectively. Illinois shot 47.6% from the field and outrebounded the ‘Cats 33-30.
The Wildcats lost the battle near the hoop, as the Illini outscored the ‘Cats 34-18 in the paint. Northwestern’s inability to find layups combined with Illinois’ effectiveness on defense led to the former sporting a 39.3% field goal percentage.
The Fighting Illini won the opening tip, and Ivisic floated in a second-chance shot from the paint to take the early lead for Illinois. Wagler and Andrej Stojakovic joined their teammate with early layups to give Illinois an early 6-0 lead.
A missed fast-break opportunity for the Illini turned into a chance the other direction. Martinelli drew a shooting foul and scored the ‘Cats’ first two points of the game from the free throw line. First-time starter Jake West scored his first triple of the night from the wing 3:49 into the contest as Northwestern entered the media break down only one.
Northwestern came out of the break with similar intensity, as Martinelli made a contested second-chance layup and Tre Singleton tipped in one of his own. The Illini regained momentum following a three-pointer for Ben Humrichous and a fadeaway jumper from Kylan Boswell.
After beginning on the bench for the first time this season, Reid made an early impact as Max Green dished the ball to him for an and-1 three. Reid knocked in his free throw to give Northwestern a 14-11 lead. Shortly after, Max Green got his second consecutive assist, finding Angelo Ciaravino in the wing for another ‘Cats trey.
At the midway point of the quarter, Illinois’ David Mirkovic nailed a deep three pointer to put his squad ahead 19-17. Arrinten Page responded with his own triple, picking up the fourth ‘Cat bucket from behind the arc.
Coming out of the second media break up 21-20, the Illini increased their lead as Ivisic scored a baseline layup. Northwestern managed to keep up on the scoreboard, but the team struggled to keep its composure as it tallied three fouls in about two minutes. The last of those was a flagrant on Jordan Clayton, which resulted in a successful free throw trip for Ben Humrichous.
Northwestern fought back, scoring on consecutive possessions behind a Martinelli triple and a fast-break Singleton tip-in. The teams entered the final media timeout of the half square at 27 points apiece.
With 3:06 in the first period, Ivisic scored a three and Mirkovic followed his teammate with his second trey of the night. Reid stanched the bleeding with a midrange jumper, but he sent Illinois’ Kylan Boswell to the line on a shooting foul seconds later. Following a failed alley-oop dunk by Page, the ‘Cats entered halftime down 38-33.
At the half, Martinelli led the Wildcats with 11 points while Reid followed with eight. The ‘Cats had made 5-of-14 attempts from behind the arc, but the Illini were dominant in the paint, outscoring Northwestern 20-10 near the basket. Illinois also grabbed 10 offensive boards to Northwestern’s six.
The second half also opened with an Illinois bucket, this time from Wagler. He stayed hot with a step-back three moments later, and Ivisic copied his teammate from deep. Only a couple minutes into the half, Northwestern called a timeout down 46-35.
Out of the break, Reid found the team’s safety valve in the corner as Martinelli notched his second three of the night. Martinelli shook the rim on a two-handed dunk during the Wildcats’ next possession. Despite all his efforts, Northwestern entered the media timeout down 10.
On Northwestern’s highlight play of the night, Martinelli dished a no-look, over-the-shoulder pass from the corner to find Reid on the wing, who knocked down a three. With Welsh-Ryan Arena on its feet, Reid knocked down a deep two to decrease the deficit to 53-47.
Both teams went scoreless for 1:53, but the Fighting Illini broke the silence with a corner three from Jake Davis. Wagler made a contested and-1 layup to push Illinois’ lead back to 12 and followed it up with a deep three from the wing.
Reid finally said enough, responding with a good layup before stealing the ball from Wagler to retake possession for the ‘Cats. Wagler fouled Reid on the following possession, who made both of his attempts from the charity stripe. On the next play, Singleton recognized the hot hand and found Reid on the wing for three points.
A Page block resulted in another Reid trip to the free throw line, and Page followed that up with his first dunk of the night to make the score 62-57 with 7:50 to play. Reid carried his weight with another made jumper, but Illinois slowed the ‘Cats’ assault with layups on consecutive possessions. Northwestern entered the media break down seven points.
From 9:16 to 4:57, Northwestern went on a 14-5 run, but the Illini stalled the ‘Cats’ momentum with a driving layup from Boswell and Ivisic’s third and fourth triples of the evening. Down 75-65, Northwestern head coach Chris Collins called his second-to-last timeout.
With time running out, Reid hit his fourth three of the night, but Northwestern’s defense was unable to stop Illinois’ dominant paint play as Wagler scored his eighth field goal of the night. Reid attempted but failed another deep shot, and Wagler made his next two free throws. Following a final Martinelli attempt from deep, the ‘Cats threw in the towel as the clock hit zeroes with Illinois winning 79-68.
Up next, the ‘Cats are slated to host No. 8 Nebraska at 3 p.m. CST on Saturday.
