With 14 seconds to go at Assembly Hall, Jake West stepped into the biggest moment of his young career.
Up by one, Northwestern needed two key free throws from West to build some breathing room against Indiana. Up to that point, West’s performance on Tuesday had been a typical one for him as of late. It featured flashes of brilliance but a lack of consistency that could be expected for a first-year starting point guard in the Big Ten.
However, in those final 14 seconds, West refused to be rattled. The
first-year nailed his two free throws to extend the Wildcats’ margin to three. After an Indiana dunk, West did it all over again, drilling two foul shots with eight seconds to go to ultimately seal the game for the ‘Cats.
Tuesday’s win was fiery. Alongside 16 points from West, it featured a 28-point bomb from Nick Martinelli, who was seemingly sleepwalking until the antagonistic, physical play of Tucker DeVries woke him out of his slumber. It even featured some generous late-game referee no-calls in Northwestern’s favor, which is a sentence few fans would likely have ever expected to read given the tough whistle the ‘Cats normally face.
But most of all, Tuesday’s win was fun. And although Indiana is far from the cream of the crop in the Big Ten, this 13-point comeback victory over the Hoosiers was the blueprint for how this Wildcat squad can play its own unique brand of successful Northwestern basketball.
“It’s been a tough year for us,” Wildcats coach Chris Collins said. “A lot of close losses, a lot of heartache, playing a lot of young guys. And to come off a win at home against Maryland, to come in on the road and then stamp it with a second in a row was huge for this group.”
Make no mistake — the road environment should’ve been a major factor playing against the Wildcats. Boos rained down on Martinelli after his physical battles with DeVries, and they came crashing down on the officials after their pair of missed late foul calls that ended up costing IU some free throws. And even in the final seconds, it seemed like the ‘Cats might be permanently rattled, as it was a Tayton Conerway steal with 22 seconds to go that even allowed IU to cut its deficit from two to one without needing to force any NU free throws.
But unlike in other late-game heartbreaks this year, the Wildcats managed to stay just composed enough to secure the victory.
Sure, the missed shots from Indiana were part of the story. But at the end of the day, although ‘Cats were down for much of Tuesday’s contest, they were never actually, truly out. Martinelli and West are the players to thank for that.
Of course, the struggles aren’t gone because of back-to-back Big Ten wins. The ‘Cats did what they needed to in the second half against the Hoosiers, but Indiana gave NU plenty of help along the way. Lamar Wilkerson’s 0-of-9 performance from the field in the final 20 minutes was tough to swallow, and with their star gone, the Hoosiers didn’t have enough offense to compete in the slightest.
But the change in Northwestern’s team-wide energy was still palpable. As usual, Martinelli was the leader. But unlike usual, it didn’t feel like he lacked the necessary support to go win.
The ‘Cats won the rebound battle 34-23 overall, and Arrinten Page (10 points, six rebounds and four assists) and Tre Singleton (seven points and eight rebounds) offered plenty of interior support in a variety of ways. Angelo Ciaravino added nine points and five rebounds, turning in a solid performance despite his late-game-lapse-that-wasn’t after his obvious foul wasn’t called in the final seconds. As that trio continued to stand out, Collins was more than willing to shrink his rotation, granting all but 12 minutes to six players.
Of course, one of those six players was West. And despite only being a first-year, he has played every bit like a star as of late.
As a whole, West’s performance was fun to watch. But with four simple free throws, he showed off a clutch gene that could hugely benefit Northwestern for years to come.
