Like every other November, the sound of basketballs bouncing against the hardwood, smoke shooting into the air and “Dream On” by Aerosmith filled Welsh-Ryan Arena for the first time in six months on Monday
night. But the players that walked out of the home team tunnel were an entirely new bunch.
Sure, senior forward Nick Martinelli was always going to be the main man after his 2024-25 campaign as the Big Ten’s leading scorer. But aside from Jordan Clayton and Justin Mullins, Northwestern men’s basketball’s mainstays in its 2025-26 season opener were comprised primarily of transfers and freshmen.
As a product, this new-look Northwestern produced a messy yet promising 70-47 win against Mercyhurst.
“I thought some of the young guys were a little bit nervous tonight, a little bit anxious, which is very much understandable,” Northwestern head coach Chris Collins said. “In your first college game, there’s a lot of emotion that goes into that.”
The first-game jitters can explain why Collins felt like his team went for too many “home run plays” rather than keeping it simple. And it showed in the stats — Northwestern had 12 turnovers to just 13 assists, while going 19-for-52 from the field and 5-for-19 from deep. In a game where many of its offensive drives turned into fouls, it got 38 free-throw attempts but missed 11 of them.
All of these stats factored into why Monday’s contest started too close for comfort for Northwestern. After the ‘Cats began with an 18-8 lead, it proceeded to go eight minutes with just one field goal, a stretch that allowed the Lakers to stay in the game and trail by as little as three points late into the first half.
However, for as sloppy as Northwestern’s offense was to start, its defense was lockdown — the first thing that Collins praised in his postgame press conference. Mercyhurst was held to just one made three-pointer and shot 30% from the field, never really able to shift the game’s momentum. The ‘Cats outrebounded the Lakers 34-23 defensively, propelled by the length and athleticism of players such as Arrinten Page.
The Wildcats found a scoring groove late in the first half when K.J. Windham hit a three and a transition layup. To open the second half, he had arguably the sequence of the game: he hit a three, made a behind-the-back pass to Jayden Reid off a defensive rebound, then drained another three on the ensuing possession. That stretch put Northwestern up 48-29, and there was no looking back.
“Just his ability to shoot the ball can break games open,” Collins said of Windham. “He’s going to be out there. And we have to do a good job when he’s open. We’ve got to find him, because he’s a guy that can really get going.”
But Northwestern’s biggest standout was Page, who led all players with 18 points and 12 rebounds, along with two assists. After arriving in Evanston largely unproven and expected to fill to fill a much-needed big man role, the Cincinnati transfer proved that he could handle it against the Lakers.
Before Page entertained crowds on Monday with big-time blocks and slam dunks, he had an up-and-down stretch in Northwestern’s two exhibition matches, including when he racked up four fouls and played just ten minutes against Illinois State. His teammate Martinelli says this rollercoaster comes with the package of being a new player.
“I only see him getting better from here, the more he gets used to the system,” Martinelli said of Page. “I hope you guys know how hard it is to get into a new system and try to figure it out. And the way he’s just taking advice from teammates, coaches and really taking it to heart, he’s been a sponge.”
The effects of a “new system” showed in other key newcomers like Max Green and Reid, who both recorded big plays throughout the game but got into foul trouble. Collins said that Northwestern had to adjust its rotations to account for the absence of guard Angelo Ciaravino, a probable future starter who suffered a hard fall against Illinois State (Collins hopes to have Ciaravino back in practice by Wednesday and ready for Northwestern’s Friday matchup against Boston University). In his place Monday night was the senior Clayton, who added veteran presence alongside Martintelli on a starting lineup where everyone else was a newcomer.
However, even with Ciaravino back, Collins doesn’t think his first five is set in stone. On a team with a bench full of unproven talent, which accounted for 23 points against Mercyhurst, the head coach wants everyone to have a “starter mentality.” Nobody knows that better than Martinelli, who was forced into that role following Ty Berry and Matt Nicholson’s season-ending injuries in 2024.
“For our freshmen, they were all superstars where they came from,” Martinelli said. “We have a ton of depth, and they just have to understand that they might not get the ball as much every night, but they have to do their jobs as well as they possibly can. And that’s what could propel us to have a great season this year.”
But regardless of any cobwebs or first-game jitters that needed to be shaken off, the matter of fact is that new-look Northwestern got the job done. It played fast, it played flashy, it made big plays on both sides of the ball and in transition. If the ’Cats clean things up and stay healthy, 2025-26 could have nothing short of pure entertainment.
