Northwestern fell to 7-5 on the 2025-26 season with a 61-58 loss to Butler on Saturday evening at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in the Indy Classic.
The Wildcats were without star forward and leading scorer Nick
Martinelli, who’d previously suffered a concussion and joined his teammates on the bench in street clothes. While they were able to hold up well defensively, Northwestern missed his offense.
Here’s three observations from the game:
The defense
It’s natural for the defense to sag a bit if the offense is missing shots. It’s just human nature, it’s hard to stay active when things aren’t going well.
Northwestern was thoroughly aware of this, with the coaching staff emphasizing energy on that end of the court as the Wildcats shot just 32.1% from the field in the first half. It bore fruit, as the Northwestern defense held Butler to just 35.5% from the field to stay in the game.
Both teams improved offensively in the second half, with Northwestern even outscoring Butler and giving itself a chance to tie or go ahead in the closing minutes. It ended with a near-halfcourt heave from Jayden Reid with just seconds left to play, but that coaching and overall defensive performance made this a much more competitive game than it could’ve been.
The balanced offense
Without Martinelli, Northwestern’s offense became something of a team effort. Reid led the way, scoring 14 points albeit on 13 shots with three makes on just as many attempts from the free throw line.
Nobody else managed to get into double figures, but most of the rest of the roster was in the ballpark of 3-8 points. Just one Wildcat who saw the court, Justin Mullins, went scoreless in the game. The ‘Cats kept the ball moving and didn’t let things get stale, they just missed shots.
Trouble on the glass
Northwestern had no answers for Butler forward Michael Ajayi, who staved off any would-be runs from the Wildcats with a handful of buckets and had his way on the glass.
Ajayi led Butler in scoring and rebounding with 19 points and 20 rebounds, six of which came on the offensive end of the floor. A senior whose seen his fair share of the college game, he was just stronger and more experienced than anyone Northwestern could try to counter him with.
This is somewhere else where Martinelli would’ve been able to help. Reid ended up leading the Wildcats with six boards, which is just shy of the former’s average per game. If Martinelli’s out there, maybe a few more misses find their way into his hands.
