For much of the season, Northwestern has faced plenty of criticism in three areas: late-game defense, rebounding and three-point shooting. It hasn’t necessarily been unwarranted — the Wildcats’ defensive breakdowns in the final minutes have cost them several games this season (most recently against UCLA), while NU’s 32.2% three-point shooting and 33.1 average total rebounds on the season both rank near the bottom of the Big Ten. There have also been questions looming about the future of this team
after Nick Martinelli graduates, and whether the younger players were developed enough to take control and shape the direction of this team.
Northwestern’s 94-73 thumping of Penn State brought optimistic answers to those concerns. The Wildcat defense got more suffocating as the game progressed, the rebounding was aggressive and showed evident signs of improvement, the three point shooting was fantastic and the ‘Cats’ young core took over and catapulted them to victory.
Let’s start with the latter point and address the youngsters first. Nick Martinelli picked up his season-high in scoring with 34 points, but he wasn’t the one summoned to the postgame presser. Instead, it featured first-year Tre Singleton — who tied his career high with 17 points and a remarkable 18 rebounds in his best game as a Wildcat.
“I was really happy for Tre,” head coach Chris Collins said postgame. “He was active with his playmaking, with his physicality, and it was just fun to see him playing with joy and attacking and not playing tentative out there.”
The other player in the presser was sophomore Angelo Ciaravino, who put together one of his signature Northwestern performances with a season high 20 points on an efficient 9-0f-12 from the field. He was a menace particularly in transition, where after his defense forced the turnover, he would get behind Penn State on the other end, haul in the cross-court pass and stamp the highlight reel with several dunks that brought the Wildcat crowd to its feet.
“With Angelo, we’ve tried to encourage him to always play to his strengths,” Collins said. “ We’re searching for him to kind of bring that … we need that out of him. We need that activity. We need that aggressiveness. We need that kind of gritty, tough-minded play.”
First-year Jake West also had a strong game, recording 13 assists. Collins said West is doing a great job taking care of the ball and making great decisions late in the game, and he describes him as helping fulfill one of his favorite aspects of coaching — seeing freshmen develop and get better in front of his own eyes.
While their offensive stats light up the stat sheet, all three players were equally as impactful on the defensive end. This game started as a shootout, with both teams finishing the first half shooting over 50% in a half defined by back-and-forth scoring on both ends. While NU’s offense ensured the team had a five-point lead heading into the locker room, head coach Chris Collins acknowledged that the defense had to tighten its screws and be more physical if the ‘Cats wanted to win this game.
“I just kept telling my team that whichever team was going to start getting a few stops was going to win,” Collins said. “But I thought the last 12 minutes, we finally got some stops.”
It was a welcome sight for a ‘Cats team to come out in the second half and look like a better team defensively. They amped up the intensity, forced turnovers, took away jump shots, stifled players in the paint and took advantage of everything offensively, converting 19 points off turnovers. It was clear the Wildcats had taken it upon themselves in practice to improve on that side of the ball, and on Thursday, they reaped the benefit of it.
“We work so hard every day in practice, so at some point it’s got to click,” Ciaravino said when asked about the defensive improvements. “It’s just constant repetition, and our coaches are going to stay on us throughout the whole season. They’re never going to give up on us, and we’re never going to give up on them.”
Regarding rebounding, Collins quickly acknowledged this was an area the team hadn’t met his standard for, even in non-conference wins earlier in the year. But he was encouraged by the physicality his team showed against Penn State.
“We came up with a lot of loose balls in the paint tonight that we (previously) hadn’t been getting,” Collins said. “I’m hoping these guys are getting confident and understanding that it’s fun when you play that way, when you stick your nose in there and you get physical.”
The final concern quelled Thursday night was about three-point shooting, as NU converted 12-of-22 from deep (for context, Northwestern had only seven threes against UCLA and three in its win against USC). Collins attributed this success partly to the law of averages, but also to the confidence his players have in shooting the ball and trusting their strokes.
Collins described the “good vibes” exemplified by his players ever since he spoke to them after Nebraska’s blowout of Northwestern. He said that meeting was important to ensuring players maintain a positive mindset and body language.
“Regardless of wins or losses, I feel better about the way we’ve played and the way we’ve approached ourselves heading into these games,” Collins said.
These areas are still noteworthy struggles to continue analyzing this season. But Northwestern’s win against Penn State proved that the Wildcats are capable of using them as strengths while also proving how dangerous the team can become when it does.
“We’ve been playing harder for each other, playing harder for our coaches, playing harder for Northwestern,” Ciaravino said. “So I feel like little stuff we’ve been doing has just been trickling over, and you see the improvements everywhere.”
