Where do we even start?
Northwestern men’s basketball has a lot to fix. A lot.
The ‘Cats traveled to Madison to go head to head with Wisconsin on Wednesday night for both teams’ Big Ten opener. Both teams had
hot starts to their respective seasons, but had faltered as of late, each dropping a pair of contests over the past week and some change.
For Northwestern’s part, we had seen the ‘Cats fight tooth and nail in three straight high-major games against Virginia, South Carolina and Oklahoma State respectively, but ending up 1-2 in that stretch of play. Nevertheless, there was still plenty of hope, with the point differential in each of those three games at five or fewer. NU looked ready to compete with its high-major counterparts, appearing just a step or two away from turning those losses into wins.
Wednesday night told us a completely different story, though.
After opening the game on a positive note with an elevator screen action for Jayden Reid, who came up to the free throw line, received an easy pass and hit a nearly uncontested floater from just inside the charity stripe to put the ‘Cats up two early. It’s telling that that play was the only highlight clip posted to Northwestern’s X account the entire night.
From then on, it was all downhill. Wisconsin found offensive rhythm relatively quickly, exploiting the Wildcats on defensive by getting into the lane on easy drives, forcing a double from the help. Just a skip pass later, and the Badgers would find themselves with corner three after corner three, wide open just about every time. And for a team that is full of capable spot-up shooters, that might as well have been Christmas come early.
Chief among their scorers was John Blackwell, who exploded for 23 first-half points and looked just about unstoppable against a pretty deflated Northwestern defense. Once momentum had swung towards the home side, it never really came back.
After NU took a 6-5 lead with 17:02 left in the opening frame, it would never get one back. Wisco responded with a 15-2 run, all but setting the floodgates wide open. Over the ensuing 10 minutes, the Badgers outscored the ‘Cats 33-9, never once looking uncomfortable on offense. Meanwhile, Northwestern couldn’t seem to get anything going with the ball in its hands while continuing to look lackadaisical on the defensive end.
Head coach Chris Collins didn’t hesitate to call it “probably our worst half of the year” in the postgame press conference.
After a nightmare first half that ended 55-32 in Wisconsin’s favor, there was little that could be said in NU’s locker room nor done on the floor in that second half to right all those wrongs. While Northwestern might’ve looked like the better second half team on paper, it was clear that UW-Madison was practically sleepwalking through it. Blackwell had just three second half points, and the ‘Cats struggled to push within a 15-point margin until the three-minute mark of the final frame before finally losing by just 12, 85-73.
If there’s anything that can be taken away from what can only be described as a horrifying start to the Big Ten season, it’s that Northwestern needs to do some reflecting and find its identity again.
So many of Collins’ best rosters have been defined by certain qualities that have allowed them to be successful in spite of not having the best on-paper talent or facing a daunting conference slate. This year almost feels the opposite. The ‘Cats undoubtedly have some positives on paper, with leading scorer Nick Martinelli, breakout campaigns from Arrinten Page and Angelo Ciaravino and a promising start to the young career of first-year Tre Singleton. But they lack the intangibles.
There isn’t the same defensive focus or efficiency as seen in past teams. There isn’t the same ability to take on adversity which inevitably comes every team’s way during the college basketball season. And maybe most importantly, there isn’t the same fight in this team that we’ve gotten so used to in recent years. Not yet, at least.
The good (and potentially bad) thing about college basketball is it’s a long season. There’s plenty that can be fixed and improved upon, just as there’s plenty that can still go wrong and fall away.
“We’re eight games into the season and one game into a twenty-game league season. So for me to say right now that it’s hopeless and we can’t find it is irresponsible,” said Collins postgame.
For Northwestern, the silver lining is that the only way is up. The positives are there. The negatives are definitely there, but can be fixed — we’ve still got three months to go before the regular season is even over, after all. But if the ‘Cats want a shot at redemption, they’ll need to turn things around, and quick. There’s no time to waste.
“The first thing is we have to stay together and not fragment,” Collins said postgame. “We all have to figure out a way to be successful.”
